BOST has been run down; we don’t have a spoonful of oil in our reserves - Jinapor

Former Deputy Minister of Energy, John Jinapor says the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation (BOST) Company Limited has been run down by the Akufo-Addo led New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.

According to him, before the National Democratic Congress (NDC) led by John Mahama left office, there was enough fuel in the BOST strategic stocks to last for 8 to 12 weeks in the advent of challenges and disruption.

Speaking on Okay FM’s 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show, John Jinapor indicated that the strategic stocks have been sold out by the Akufo-Addo government as a drop of oil cannot be found in the reserves.

“Before we left office, we had strategic stocks and when we talk of strategic stocks or reserves we mean that the fuel we have stocked in tanks so that maybe one day when we have problem with the supply of fuel or disruption in the country, we are to be able to sustain for about 8 to 12 weeks. Today, as we speak, we don’t have a spoonful of oil or even a drop of oil in our strategic reserves or stocks,” he asserted.

He mentioned that the Mahama-led government bought 2 million barrels of crude oil to be refined by the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) in order to stop importing finished oil from outside, but the reserved oil has been sold out after the NPP government took over from him.

He again mentioned that the debt of Ghana Gas is on the ascendency in spite of the fact that it makes a saving of about 350 million dollars every month; thus, the current debt accumulated is to the tune of about 1 billion dollars.

“We again said that the Ghana Gas we built is giving Ghana, a true savings of 350 million dollars every month but as we speak, the debt of Ghana Gas is increasing every day to the tune of 1 billion dollars and this is worrying to the extent that it might collapse the country,” he mentioned.

He further claimed that the Akufo-Addo government cannot account for $600 million of the petroleum revenue it has collected, stressing that the government cannot tell where the money has been pushed to, thus, they are mismanaging the oil revenue.

He accused the Akufo-Addo government of abusing the petroleum revenue law as only 40 percent of the petroleum revenue is being used for capital expenditure and critical investment instead of the 70 percent required by law.

“The law says that we should use 70 percent of our petroleum revenue for capital expenditure, critical investment but this government is not complying with the law; they have been spending 40 percent instead of the 70 percent and they channel the remaining to goods and services. The government cannot account for 600 million of the petroleum revenues; they cannot tell where the money has been pushed to and so they are mismanaging the oil revenue,” he alleged.