A fuel tanker with 27,000 metric tonnes of petrol docked at the oil berth at the Tema harbour on Friday morning. It is hoped that this will to off set any possible fuel shortage in the country.

A GNA report quotes Mr Robert B. Forson, Deputy Managing Director, Operations of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), as saying that "we are reaching all filling stations by this week-end".

He said: "To enable us to achieve this, we are working full day on Saturday to enable tankers to go out." Mr Forson explained that there was a four day delay by the tanker that was bringing in the fuel, which should have docked on April 1, but couldn’t do so until this morning.

He said there was no need for motorists to panic, adding, "we know your anxiety and we are always prepared to serve you better." Mr Forson denied that TOR has been reducing quantity of fuel sent to filling stations as being claimed by some fuel station managers.

Meanwhile, the Shama Ahanta East Metropolitan area, Ahanta West, Wassa West and Nzema East districts in the Western Region have been hit with fuel shortage bringing business activities to a halt.

Long queues of Taxis and trotro had formed at filling stations in the Sekondi-Takoradi area, according to a GNA report. Mr Kwesi Yankson, a taxi driver attributed the shortage to hoarding by the fuel station operators while others alleged that the products were being stored in anticipation of a price increase.

The shortage started to be felt on Thursday night and some filling stations were rationing the products to serve as many customers as possible. Nana Aboah in charge of the Sekondi roundabout GOIL filling station said suppliers were not delivered on time creating the shortage. He said some drivers especially those of taxis and Trotros were "panic buying" in case of a price hike.