Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) Hassan Tampuli has reiterated the Authority’s commitment to clamp down on LPG refill stations which fail to adhere to safety standards as it intensifies its monitoring and inspection exercise.

This, Mr. Tampuli noted, is to prevent accidents at the stations and save lives – adding that the loss of lives resulting from petroleum-related fires cannot be allowed to continue, and therefore appealed to sector players in the downstream to aim at zero accidents at retail outlets.

“The NPA has carried out inspections of nearly 600 LPG stations, with just a few more left to complete the first round of the inspection.

This will be followed immediately with risk assessment and safety audits of existing stations, and stations that don’t meet the parameters set in the risk assessment may be closed down in the interest of the public safety,” he said.

To this end, Mr. Tampuli who was speaking at the rebranding of Frimps Oil company – one of the indigenous oil marketing companies in the country – tasked all operators of petroleum products to improve safety standards as well as keep an up-to-date log-book for all accidents at the facilities.

The Authority has in the past been accused by the public of not doing much to ensure safety at the various stations, a situation suspected to be responsible for gas explosions that have occurred in the past.

In October last year, five bystanders lost their lives after a tanker discharging gas exploded in what has become known as the ‘Atomic Gas explosion’, near Madina in Accra.

The Authority’s Head also noted that 600 LPG stations out of the 636 across the country have so far been inspected, with the rest to be completed soon.

He assured local businesses of government’s utmost support to ensure they thrive, saying: “One of the visions of government is its unshaken belief in the abilities and business ingenuity of indigenous Ghanaian businesses, and the government will do everything to ensure they take the commanding heights of the business environment”.

He also commended management of Frimps Oil for their commitment to safety and excellent consumer relationships over the years in its operations, and their willingness to improve on same by rebranding.

Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Oil Marketing Companies, Kwaku Agyeman-Duah, in his remarks at the event called on government to increase support for local businesses so as to enable them expand in order to create jobs for the people.

On his part, the Executive Chairman of Frimps Group, Rev. Kwaku Frimpong, assured the public of its commitment to serve them with integrity in the coming years, following the rebranding exercise.