The storage tanks containing the alleged contaminated fuel sealed off by NPA officials at Tema
Contrary to reports that Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation (BOST) Ltd has discharged contaminated oil onto the market for motorists, no single drop of the alleged dirty oil has found its way onto the market.
The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has sealed the tanks at Zupoil depot where the supposed contaminated fuel products have been stored at Golf City, near Tema.
The action of the NPA would allow for investigations into the whole saga.
BOST allayed the fears being entertained by motorists on the possible spillage of the product onto the market by saying that it is collaborating with its partner agencies and the NPA to closely monitor and forestall the spilling of any of the dirty oil onto the market.
“BOST’s responsibility is to sell off-spec products to a qualified company and it is important to note that off-spec products are used by the steel, garment, petro-chemical companies to run their machinery and certainly not for the running of vehicle engines. It can also be used as mixture for asphalt and turpentine to prevent decay of wood, etc. and therefore cannot fathom how possible off-spec products could be sold to unsuspecting consumers for whatever reason.
“That notwithstanding, it is a fact that NPA is fully in control as usual and will not allow this to happen,” BOST said in a statement yesterday.
Commenting on the details of the transaction, it explained that BOST sold the off-spec product at GH¢1.30 per litre as against the normal ex-depot rate of GH¢1.75 for normal products.
“Thus 26 percent discount off the normal product and this is the normal and acceptable practice in the industry. The assertion that, the off-spec product should have been sold at two cedis, fifty pesewas (GH¢2.50p) is misleading because ex-depot price and pump price are completely different. BOST only sells products at ex-depot rate.”
No Fears
Meanwhile, the Consumer Protection Agency (CPA), a public interest group, has also dismissed reports by the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers Ghana (COPEC–GH) and the minority National Democratic Congress (NDC) in parliament as well as Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), that the contaminated fuel products are already on the Ghanaian market.
According to CPA, its research and thorough investigations conducted indicate that there is no such products on sale as alleged by COPEC-GH and the NDC in parliament.
CPA Head of Programmes and Research, Nana Prempeh Aduhene, gave the assurance on Tuesday when officials of BOST, CPA, National Security and NPA visited Zupoil depot where the contaminated fuel products have been stored, to check whether the products had found their way onto the market.
All the tests carried out indicated that not a drop had found its way onto the market.
The issue of contaminated products predates the current administration at BOST except that the mandate to deal with it rests with it (administration).
According to sources, the products’ contamination occurred during the transition period which the NDC government did not take any action on but has suddenly jumped in shouting from the rooftop and calling for heads to roll.
The CPA urged petroleum consumers to disregard the alarming claims by the NDC and its assigns, assuring the public of the agency’s close monitoring to ensure that the products do not get onto the market.
“After our research and investigations, Consumer Protection Agency can confidently say that there is no contaminated product in the market. We have been everywhere necessary and we cannot find any. I want to urge those making the allegations to help us find where the contaminated products have been kept. Until then, disregard whatever they are saying,” Nana Prempeh Aduhene charged.
The minority in parliament is demanding an immediate interdiction of BOST managing director over the raging controversy surrounding the contaminated fuel.
They have insisted that the circumstances under which 5 million litres of fuel were contaminated and sold under bizarre circumstances to the company is dubious and has led to a $14.25 million financial loss to the state.
Furthermore, ACEP also called on the BOST boss, Alfred Obeng, to step aside for a full-scale investigation into the alleged sale of contaminated fuel.
However, a visit to the yard by journalists and other teams yesterday revealed a total of 471, 000 litres of the contaminated fuel products sitting in the separate tanks mounted at the premises of Zupoil Ltd, a subsidiary of Movenpiina – which bought the products from BOST.
Roland Ayipah, Manager of the Zupoil Storage Yard, briefing the team, said a total of 10 trucks were used to haul the 471,000 litres from Accra Plains Depot of BOST at Kpone near Tema after they had bought five million litres from BOST.
According to him, the contaminated fuel product which they suspected to be a mixture of petrol and diesel had been stored in the tanks with the hope of lifting the remaining products with BOST within the shortest period possible.
He noted, “We buy these kinds of products everywhere and we use them to dissolve hard black or dirty oil to make it light before selling to the industries we deal with.
Mr. Ayipah debunked allegation that Zupoil sells fuel or petrol, noting that they only deal with industries which buy black oil from them.
“Because we deal in black or dirty oil, we buy these kinds of products to help us dissolve hard dirty oil before we sell them to our customers,” he pointed out.
He indicated that they had not sold any of the contaminated fuel bought from BOST since they only use them for dissolving their products.
The Media Relations Manager at BOST, Nana Akua Adubea Obeng, told journalists that only 471,000 litres of the contaminated product had been released to Movenpiina.
She stated that the remaining litres were sitting in the tanks at BOST and waiting to be offloaded within a three-month period.
“It’s a normal practice with BOST that when you buy a product from us, the buyer has a total of three months to lift the product from BOST premises,” she said.
From Vincent Kubi, Tema