Acute fuel shortage hits Accra ahead of Obama's visit
Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, Ghanadot
Accra, July 8, Ghanadot - With
barely three days to receive US President Barrack Obama in
Ghana, the nation’s capital, Accra is saddled with acute
fuel shortage.
As of yesterday, most people went “gallon in hand” this time,
not in search of water but for
petroleum products.
Heavy vehicular lines were
witnessed in most fuel stations as drivers queued or ran
from one filling station to the other for the scarce
commodity.
Information picked by Ghanadot
indicated that the rehabilitation work currently ongoing at
the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) accounted for the problem as the
storage occurred only a few days after TOR was shut down
again for some major maintenance works.
The Refinery was shut down again barely a week of operations
after it was shut down in February 2009 for maintenance.
The Chief Executive Officer of TOR, Dr Kwame Ampofo
explained that the shutdown became necessary to enable its
engineers to carry out full
maintenance works to ensure that the refinery operates a
full capacity.
But many wondered whether
the critical time of Obama's visit, when the whole worlds
attention would be temporarily focused on Ghana, was the
right tim to do this maintenance
When Ghanadot sought an explanation for the current
shortages Dr Kwame Ampofo was quick to direct the reporter
to Mr. Alex Mould .Acting chief executive of the National
Petroleum Authority for an explanation for the shortage
since it was his outfit that oversees the operations of the
other players in the oil market in the country.
His explanation was that as a result of de-regulation and
liberalization of the downstream petroleum sector other
players in the oil sector were free to bring in finished
petroleum products hence TOR could not be blamed for the
shortage.
Under the deregulation policy, private sector investors are
also allowed to build and operate their own refineries in
the country, with the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) now
in place to oversee and regulate the oil sector
He argued that the Tema Oil Refinery was shut down for over
six months and yet the country did not go dry on fuel.
The Public Relations Officer of the National Petroleum
Authority, Mr. Stephen Larbi when contacted disclosed that
the Authority was trying to gather stocks from other centers
in the country to salvage the situation but could not give
details as to what really accounted
for the shortage.
He also directed this reporter to seek
further clarification from the Tema Oil Refinery on the
subject.
Meanwhile, insiders at the TOR hinted that the heavy
indebtedness by Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) to the Tema
Oil Refinery was a major contributor to the current fuel
shortage.
The new administration of TOR early this year cut off some
Oil Marketing Companies which have exceeded their grace
periods in paying their debts and thus the shortages being
experienced at the pumps could be artificially created by
some cash trapped OMCs.
However government paid a lump sum of $72 million to settle
the TOR under recovery debt for 2008 a couple of weeks ago
to enable it carry out its functions effectively.
Government’s interventions at meeting Ghana’s energy needs
especially in the petroleum sector has witnessed some
impressive outcomes as Libya recently joined Nigeria to
supply Ghana with crude.
Recently, the President of Ghana H.E John Evans Atta Mils
struck a deal with Muammmar Al-Qadafi at the just ended 13th
Ordinary summit of the African Union in Libya last week.
This new deal comes only a month after Ghana secured an
assurance from the Nigerian government to supply crude to
Ghana on friendly terms.
Under that agreement Nigeria pledged to supply Ghana with
65,000 barrels of crude daily on a 90 days credit terms.
Still, the question under
a lot minds after all these good deals is where is the
supply and why take indebted OMCs out this week to cause
this sudden drop in oil supply.
Ghanadot
