An energy expert has taken a swipe at the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) for dabbling in an area it has no mandate.

According to him, the NPA has no mandate over raw crude.

Mr. Benjamin Nsiah said the NPA's mandate relates to finished products and not raw crude.

Speaking on the brouhaha concerning the importation of some 600,000 barrels of crude oil from Russia through Kazakhstan to the Tema port on the 505 evening news analysis programme on Class 91.3 FM on Wednesday, March 1, 2023, anchored by Kwame Okyere Jr., he argued that once it is crude, the mandate falls within the purview of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR).

"Once it is a raw product, it is within the mandate of the management of TOR and not NPA.

"We know who the importers of the crude are, so I don't understand why the players in the sector are running from it," he said.

He commended the move, saying it would bring down prices at the pump.

He said it is not a big deal buying crude from Russia, adding that European countries and the United States of America are buying from Russia despite the ban on Russia.

He advised the government to own up to the product and stop dillydallying about it.

"Even the first consignment of the Gold for Oil deal was purchased from Russia, so why the denial?" he asked.

According to the Institute for Energy Security (IES), 600,000 barrels of crude oil arrived at the Tema port on February 26, 2023, aboard the vessel MT Theseus, which Bloomberg reports as "Russian Oil to be stashed in Ghana as a pool of buyers shrinks."

"Documents intercepted by the IES suggest that Planton Gas Oil Ghana Limited is the importer and has requested a crude oil storage space of approximately 80,000 metric tonnes (MT), equivalent to 600,000 barrels from the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), after nominating the facility as the discharge destination," it explained.