BOST blames NPA for shortage of kerosene

Accra, April 26, GNA - Dr Kwabena Donkor, Chief Executive Officer of Bulk Oil Storage and Transport (BOST) Company, on Wednesday blamed the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) for the current shortage of kerosene in rural Ghana.

Speaking at a press briefing in Accra on the "Current Kerosene Supply Situation in Rural Ghana", Dr Donkor traced the cause of the shortage and high price of kerosene in rural Ghana to the price differential between the product and diesel.

He said the increased price differential exacerbated by the February 17, 2006 petroleum price adjustment by the NPA made it very profitable for some people within the petroleum product supply chain to adulterate diesel with kerosene.

He said kerosene was sometimes adulterated with diesel by some tanker drivers and that the commodity did not get to the communities leading to the scarcity and high prices.

Dr Donkor said even though the official price of kerosene was 24,500 cedis per gallon it was selling at between 40,000 cedis and 50,000 cedis in some rural communities thus undermining the rea lisation of any benefit the lower official price was to bestow.

Dr Donkor said the NPA Board had ignored institutional knowledge, experiences and advice from both its own technical ranks and the oil industry in general and had since February 18, 2005 opened up a gap in the pricing of diesel and kerosene.

He said if kerosene were pitched at the same price with diesel, there would have been no leakage from the supply chain and the product would have gotten to the final consumer at the price set. Dr Donkor said the NPA by its singular action had caused a lot of hardship to rural dwellers and contributed to their economic marginalisation and described the NPA's action as 'anti-poor'. He, therefore, called on the Executive and Parliament to re-impose the appropriate taxes on kerosene to bring its price to parity with that of diesel.

He suggested that the extra revenue accruing from this parity should go into a special fund for rural electrification. Dr Donkor also called on the Parliamentary Sub-Committee on Mines and Energy; Ministry of Energy; civil society organizations; advocates for rural development and Ghanaians to scrutinize the conduct of NPA in the execution of its statutory responsibilities to bring it to order. 26 April 06