Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has announced that a new digitisation plan will soon be rolled out to help deal with the phenomenon of middlemen who hitherto have highjacked the distribution of premixed fuel to the fishing community in the country. The ultimate aim of the digitisation process, according to the Vice President, is to deal with corruption in the premix fuel sector.

Delivering the Guest of Honour's address at the Ghana International Petroleum Conference on the theme; "Regional Collaboration: A Catalyst for Transformation," at the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia said dealing with the premix fuel supply and distribution has been a challenging issue because of the availability of subsidies to premix fuel.

"Whenever there are subsidies, the distribution of the product tends to create rents and when it creates rents, all sorts of people come in the middle and the fishermen whom this is designed for ultimately don't get the product because the product is smuggled to people who may not even be fishermen," the Vice President said.

He noted further that, "We have been looking at this issue and we have decided that the best way to deal with this is to digitize the process so that we can be able to direct the subsidy to each boat that is registered."

The Vice President pointed out that interest groups in the distribution of premixed fuel, after broad consultations, have been given four weeks to give final consideration to the road map for the introduction of the digital process after which same will be implemented by government.



Deputy Minister for Energy

The Deputy Minister for Energy, Mohammed Amin Adam, in an address on behalf of the Energy Minister, Peter Amewu, said the Energy Ministry, in collaboration with National Security, has initiated a process that will see the implementation of a policy that is aimed at safeguarding the country's petroleum installations against all forms of attacks.

"The security and safety of petroleum installations, workers of industry players, and the communities where we operate must be a priority in our risk management plans. The Ministry of Energy is, therefore, working with the national security secretariat to implement an energy security policy aimed at protecting critical infrastructure and the sustainability of the petroleum industry," the Deputy Energy Minister said.

GPCon

GPCon is Ghana's foremost Petroleum Downstream Conference organised under the auspices of the Ministry of Energy and the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) in partnership with the Ghana Chamber af Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD) and the Association of Oil Marketing Companies (AOMCs). The conference is designed to actively bring to the fore the operating industry's perspective and guidance on issues of governmental and regulatory policy as well as best practices for the advancement of the industry, not only in Ghana but across the West African sub-region and beyond.



Thematic Areas of Focus

The three-day conference will amongst others, tackle issues such as the challenges of regional distribution and the need to harmonize sub-regional petroleum product specifications (MARPOL) 2020. There will also be panel discussions that will focus on a global perspective on such topics as the Petroleum Downstream Industry; IMO 2020 and Fuel Specification Trends; Downstream Infrastructure, Financing and Investment; Impact of Price Deregulation on Petroleum Service Providers' Operations, as well as Illicit Activities, Fuel Fraud and Supply Chain Security in the West African Sub-Region.

Industry Players in Participation

International industry players such as Anibor Kragha, Chief Operating Officer for the Refineries and Petrochemicals Directorate of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC), Babajide Akinremi Soyode, Chairman of Petrodata Management Services Ltd and Technical Consultant to the Group President /CE of the Dangote Industries Limited for Refinery and Petrochemicals Projects, Kevin Dadzie, Head of Country for BP in Ghana, Chief Executive Officer of the Tema Oil Refinery, Isaac Osei, Alhassan Sulemana Tampuli, Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Authority, Kevin Naidoo, General Manager for Oil tanking, the second-largest independent operator of ta k terminals for oils, chemicals and gases worldwide, WI be leading the deliberations at the conference.