Gov’t to deregulate downstream petroleum sector

The Energy ministry has hinted at plans to deregulate the downstream petroleum sector by the end of this year.

Deputy Minister of the sector, Benjamin Dagadu made the announcement at the annual general meeting of the Ghana chamber of bulk oil distributors in Accra today, Friday March 27,2015.

The deregulation policy when effected will take away the sole right of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) to determine the prices of fuel products in the country.

It will therefore allow the various bulk oil distribution companies to determine how much they would want to charge for fuel to their customers.

The current petroleum act mandates the NPA to wholly determine the prices of fuel and other related products in the country.

But the deputy minister says it is high time the sector is deregulated.

According to him, the policy will be in the best interest of Ghanaians when approved by cabinet.

In 2005, Parliament passed an Act 691 which mandated the National Petroleum Authority, (NPA), to regulate the downstream sector of the petroleum Industry.

The downstream sector refers to the entry of crude oil or petroleum products on the shores of a country till they are discharged either to the Refinery or to another depot in the country. It also has to do with the distribution of the petroleum products that are refined or brought into the country .

The NPA also has a mandate to regulate every single Petroleum Service Provider (PSP) that provides services in the Industry.

The NPA offer licenses to PSPs to operate in the particular sector the license is given for.

They also set the standards and the rules and regulation by which that organisation in that particular sector will operate. The authority runs its activities through two main divisions - the Inspectorate, Monitoring &Licensing (IML) division and the Pricing, Planning and Research (PPR).

The Inspectorate division handles all the Licenses of all PSPs in ensuring that they abide by the rules and regulations of the industry.