THE National Petroleum Authority (NPA) says GH¢43million in petroleum profits were stolen by cabals due to the absence of an effective tracking system.
This represents 12.3% of annual freight payments.

Petroleum Service Providers (PSP) exploited the lack of capacity of the Unified Petroleum Price Fund (UPPF) Secretariat to independently confirm the delivery of petroleum products to retail outlets and, consequently, subjected the Fund to abuse through the presentation of false claims for costs incurred during the transportation of petroleum products.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Mr Hassan Tampuli, who revealed the information at the launch of the Bulk Road Vehicle (BRV) Tracking Scheme in Accra, disclosed that since the introduction of the scheme, revenue loss as a result of false freight claims has reduced from 12.3% in 2014 to 2.3% of total freight paid as at December 2016.

Savings made, he added, are in excess of GH¢34 million per year.
He stated that the technological approach has enabled the Authority to have greatly increased visibility on the movement of the BRVs, as well as the locations petroleum products are loaded and delivered.

The introduction of the BRV Tracking Scheme, according to Mr Tampuli, is a demonstration of NPA’s commitment to improving standards and controls in the distribution of petroleum products in the petroleum downstream industry.

Mr Tampuli noted that the theme of the launch, “Fueling Ghana’s Economy through transparent Fuel Supply Chain”, reinforces the Authority’s quest to ensure regular supply of petroleum products to all parts of the country through an efficient distribution system.

Mr Tampuli said the BRV Tracking System, which was initially adopted in 2013, consists of a Global Position System (GPS), a set of volume sensors and a web based monitoring application.

“This technology is proven, reliable and amongst the best industry practices in the monitoring of road transportation of petroleum products, and has provided the solution that the Authority requires,” he detailed.

The system, he further noted, has enabled the UPPF Secretariat to have visibility on the quantities of product loaded into BRVs and the loading depots and where the loaded products are delivered.

“It has also enabled the secretariat visibility on the locations of BRVs and the quantity of product in them in real time,” he added.

The Authority, in another development, announced a new Legislation Instrument, aimed at monitoring and providing accountability to ensure the system runs as expected, most importantly to crack down on nepotism and corruption that has previously marred the industry.

The LI outlines the installation and maintenance procedures for Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) bulk storage facilities to be followed across the industry.
The Chief Director of the Ministry of Energy, Professor Thomas Akabzaa, in a speech on behalf of Mr Boakye Agyarko, Minister of Energy, mentioned that the relevance of the petroleum downstream sector in the economic development of the country cannot be over emphasized.

He reiterated the government’s commitment to ensuring regular supply of petroleum products to all parts of the country through a cost effective and an efficient distribution system.

”It is, however, not very exciting to note that about 98% of the petroleum product used in the country is moved by road transport. Despite its flexibility of delivering petroleum products, there are significant constraints associated with transporting petroleum products by road,” he stated.