Frema Osei Opare, Messrs Hassan Tampuli and Patrick Akorli at the event
The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has launched the second phase of the Petroleum Product Marking Scheme (PPMS).
Speaking at the launching ceremony on Wednesday, February 19, 2020 in Accra, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NPA, Alhassan Tampuli, said the PPMS entered a new phase of the programme on April 1, 2019.
According to him, Nationwide Technologies Limited (NTL) has been contracted to undertake fuel marking activities in Ghana.
“It is worth noting that NTL has a sub-contractor agreement with Authentix Inc,” he said.
He noted that phase two of the PPMS was anchored on technological advancements in the markers as well as the detection proprietary equipment.
According to him, “The marker has been uniquely designed for the Ghanaian market with a chemical composition to aid in immediate equipment quantification and detection to enable the NPA make swift decisions on whether retail outlets have dumped or adulterated the petroleum products being offered for sale at retail outlets across the country.”
He added “the LSX3000 equipment stores all data in an encrypted form and is tailored to restrict access. In the field, officers of the NPA and key stakeholders such as dealers, station managers and station supervisors see either a pass or fail result.”
“However, the marker concentration is stored internally in the field device and the data, transmitted in real time to a cloud system. The reason for this approach is to ensure that no individual including an NPA field officer can alter the test results,” he added.
Mr. Tampuli indicated that “phase two of the PPMS will see the NPA improving upon the sustained successful marking and field monitoring of marked petroleum products; the reduction in the retail outlet failure rate, which is indicative of the decrease in the malpractices in the distribution and sale of petroleum products; an improvement in stakeholder awareness in furtherance of the NPA’s medium term strategy; significant reduction in the fuel tax revenue loss and subsidy abuse; and improved quality of products at the retail outlets for consumers of petroleum products.”
In this regard, he said an effective fuel quality management system in place would ensure that the quality of petroleum products were constantly monitored by fuel quality tests and analysis to mitigate all potential effects of poor quality fuels and assure customers of improved quality fuel and value for money.
In attendance at the launch were Chief of Staff, Frema Osei Opare and Patrick Akpe Kwame Akorley.
BY Melvin Tarlue