Ghana risks losing GHC1bn to oil smugglers in 2017 – OMCs warns

If Ghana does not map out strategies to curtail the activities of oil smugglers, it will lose a whooping amount of GH?1billion in 2017, the Association of Oil Marketing Companies (AOMCs) has warned.

The activities of smugglers in petroleum products, according to the Oil Marketing Companies, are having dire consequences on the oil industry at the country at large, a situation they noted, is denying the government of the needed revenue it ought to have accrued through taxes.

The Industry-Coordinator, Kwaku Agyemang-Duah, interacting with Fiifi Banson on Kasapa FM, Wednesday, said the menace cost the country GHC850million in 2016 in terms of revenue as a result of huge drop in the sale of legitimate petroleum products by OMCs.

The drop in the sales margin 9% when it ought to have rather increase by 3%, he added.

“It the activities of smugglers of petroleum products are not brought to a halt but rather made to continue, the government will be losing over GHC1billion by the end of this year [2017],” noted Mr. Agyemang-Duah.

In February, 2017, the industry witnessed a volume drop by 19%, an alarming situation which the Industry-Coordinator stressed, should be curtailed immediately “before things get out of hand”.

Should the menace persist, he said it would negatively affect the government’s revenue projections which would trickle down to affect the provision of basic infrastructure needed to improve the living conditions of the citizenry.

Further to that, an estimated number of 4,000 workers in the industry risk losing their jobs at the end of May.

Worried about the trend, the AOMC which has 102 members, according to Mr. Agyemang-Duah, has sent an SOS message to the government, giving it 48 hours to clamp down on smuggles of petroleum products in the oil industry since their activities are a threat to national security.

At a press conference in Accra on Tuesday, May 2, 2017, the AOMCs told journalists that they have sent numerous notifications to the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), the industry regulator, all to no avail, hence, their decision to issue the 48-hour ultimatum to the government to act.

“We firmly believe that the government has the requisite authority, tools, instruments and relevant resources such as security institutions to stamp out this menace within this period,” Mr. Agyemang-Duah, said.

In the view of the Industry-Coordinator, the smugglers pose as exporters, and therefore, enjoy low taxes and subsequently divert their fuel products that are expected to be exported to Mali, Burkina Faso and other neighboring countries back to Ghana.

These products, he said, are sold at cheaper prices than those of the OMCs whose prices contain all the “full blown taxes/levies.”