Samson Addai, an energy expert, has proposed to the government that a portion of the price stabilisation tax be utilised to purchase new tanks for the Bulk Oil Storage Company to store fuel.

He stated that this must be done so that they may eventually sell them to oil marketing organisations at affordable prices if global market prices rise.

He suggested that, “the government could use proceeds from the price stabilisation levy to purchase more tanks, so BOST will use them to store more fuel, so when the prices on the world market increase, the one stored would be sold to the oil marketing companies at a reasonable price”.

He made the remarks on Frontline on Rainbow Radio 87.5 FM with host Kwabena Agyapong.

He said although the levy was introduced to help stabilise the price of fuel, the government is currently using it to stabilise the price of premix fuel for fishermen, an approach he noted was not the best.

He said it would be more prudent for the government to either introduce a new mechanism to stabilise the prices of premix fuel or stop the stabilisation levy for that.

He also proposed for the government to reduce the tax component on the price buildup from the current 22.5% to 15%.

“The other thing the government can do is reduce the tax component of the tax buildup from the current 22.5% to 15%. This will help reduce the cost of fuel.”

He further called for the Tema Oil Refinery to be functional as part of efforts to alleviate the continuous price hikes for fuel.

He expressed concern that the non-operationalization of the refinery is also affecting the price of imported fuel.

TOR shut down operations several years ago due to a lack of crude oil, which serves as the raw material for the refinery.

The refinery, prior to its collapse, had the capacity to refine about 45,000 barrels of crude oil a day.

But Mr. Addai believes if the company is allowed to operate and refine crude, it will help reduce the cost of fuel.

“When we refine our crude, there will be no dollarisation involved. We will not have to import refined fuel that is expensive. So I will encourage the government to speed up the operationalization of TOR, so it will help,” he said.