Fuel queues melt as more supplies flow

ACCRA, October 1 -- Fuel queues in Accra melted on Friday as more filling stations received supplies from the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR).

The queues started disappearing on Friday evening as the government announced that TOR had struck a deal with the Nigerian Petroleum Corporation (NPC) for the supply of 30,000 barrels of crude oil daily from November 1.

A 180-day credit facility is being favourably considered by the Nigerian authorities to assist Ghana to find a way out of the current fuel crisis that has hit Accra and surrounding areas.

Quite a significant number of filling stations outside the city had petrol and many attendants the Ghana News Agency spoke to stated that they had enough supplies. They, however, expressed the hope that their allocations would not dry up.

Accra and Tema have over the past week been smarting under a serious fuel crisis as fuel pumps ran dry and with only trickles from the refinery.

Motorists became frustrated and desperate workers had to struggle to reach their offices, resulting sometimes in the payment of a little more than the approved fares.

The government has emphasised that there is no looming oil crisis and that the situation is under control. It has also pledged that it would not increase the ex-pump price of fuel, which it says are the lowest in the West Africa sub-region.

Vice-President John Evans Atta Mills on Monday went to Abuja, Nigeria, where he initiated technical discussions to seek favourable terms of oil supply.

Mr Simon Abingya, Deputy Minister of Mines and Energy, told a press conference on Thursday that a technical team is currently in Abuja drafting a document to facilitate supplies to the TOR up to the end of the year.

Between now and November, letters of credit for the supply of 80,000 metric tonnes of crude oil have been opened to ensure that enough fuel is available for the period. These represent 450,000 barrels of oil for October.

Mr Abingya said the shortage over the two-week period was due to a mix-up by BP Amoco, who initially named Bank Pariba of Paris as their bankers instead of Credit Leonnaise, with whom letters of credit had been arranged.

"The current problem we have is due to the inability of Bank Paribas to honour the letters of credit sent by BP Amoco. "He said at the moment adequate supplies are being pumped onto the market and advised drivers to desist from panic buying and stick to the quantity they would normally buy if there were no crisis