[ 2015-03-28 ]

Gov’t to deregulate downstream petroleum sector
The Energy ministry has hinted at plans to
deregulate the downstream petroleum sector by the
end of this year.

Deputy Minister of the sector, Benjamin Dagadu
made the announcement at the annual general
meeting of the Ghana chamber of bulk oil
distributors in Accra today, Friday March
27,2015.

The deregulation policy when effected will take
away the sole right of the National Petroleum
Authority (NPA) to determine the prices of fuel
products in the country.

It will therefore allow the various bulk oil
distribution companies to determine how much they
would want to charge for fuel to their customers.

The current petroleum act mandates the NPA to
wholly determine the prices of fuel and other
related products in the country.

But the deputy minister says it is high time the
sector is deregulated.

According to him, the policy will be in the best
interest of Ghanaians when approved by cabinet.

In 2005, Parliament passed an Act 691 which
mandated the National Petroleum Authority, (NPA),
to regulate the downstream sector of the petroleum
Industry.

The downstream sector refers to the entry of crude
oil or petroleum products on the shores of a
country till they are discharged either to the
Refinery or to another depot in the country. It
also has to do with the distribution of the
petroleum products that are refined or brought
into the country .

The NPA also has a mandate to regulate every
single Petroleum Service Provider (PSP) that
provides services in the Industry.

The NPA offer licenses to PSPs to operate in the
particular sector the license is given for.

They also set the standards and the rules and
regulation by which that organisation in that
particular sector will operate. The authority runs
its activities through two main divisions - the
Inspectorate, Monitoring &Licensing (IML) division
and the Pricing, Planning and Research (PPR).

The Inspectorate division handles all the Licenses
of all PSPs in ensuring that they abide by the
rules and regulations of the industry.

Source - Starrfmonline

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