Chief Executive of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Dr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, has called on LPG marketing companies to reconsider their opposition to the cylinder recirculation model (CRM) and support the policy.
He highlighted that the CRM is being adopted across West Africa, including in countries such as Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, Burkina Faso, and Senegal, and stressed that Ghana cannot afford to fall behind.
During the opening of the 2024 Ghana International Petroleum Conference (GhIPCon) in Accra on Wednesday, Dr. Abdul-Hamid noted the intense advertisements by LPG marketing companies promoting the current LPG filling station model.
While acknowledging that these advertisements are within the companies’ rights, he urged them to adapt and embrace the CRM, which aims to enhance safety and efficiency in LPG distribution and usage in Ghana.
“I urge you to reassess your opposition to the CRM policy because all across the world, very few countries still adopt the filling station concept as far as LPG distribution is concerned. All across the West African sub region Cote d”Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Togo, everywhere else people are running the CRM model.
“I don’t think Ghana can afford to continue to lag behind. I think that it is important that we catch up with the modern trends and to adopt to the flow”, he stressed.
Dr. Abdul-Hamid stated that the CRM could generate additional employment opportunities throughout the value chain.
He pointed out that job prospects within the CRM framework include roles at LPG bottling plants, storage depots, exchange stations, and in the transportation of filled cylinders.
The two-day conference, organized by the NPA in partnership with the Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD), the Association of Oil Marketing Companies (AOMC), and the Ministry of Energy, was conducted under the theme: ‘The Petroleum Downstream: Building a Future for Growth, Efficiency, and Sustainability’.
This year’s GHIPCON, the sixth edition of the series, aims to tackle key issues and uncover opportunities within the petroleum downstream sector.
Dr. Abdul-Hamid noted that the petroleum downstream industry has developed into a dynamic and thriving sector over the years, marked by growing involvement from the private sector.
“It has become a key contributor to the growth and development of the economy, we estimate that the sector had a monetary value of over GHS71 billion, representing about 8.4% of the country’s 2023 GDP.
“Over the past seven years, the industry returned an average annual value of over GHS35 billion,” he said.
The NPA Boss said as a result of improvements in the performance of the economy driven by deliberate government policy initiatives aimed at expanding the productive sectors of the economy, Ghana”s neighbouring countries such as Mali, Niger, Cote D’Ivoire, Togo and Burkina Faso had been importing petroleum products from the country”s petroleum downstream industry.
He said the volumes of petroleum products re-exported and transited to the neighbouring countries totalled 385,154,100 litres in 2023.
Dr. Abdul-Hamid said the increase in volumes of the exports was a testament of significant successes in the NPA’s efforts towards curbing illicit fuel activities in the country.
He indicated that the Authority has intensified its collaboration with the navy, marine police and immigration to continue to arrest people engaged in illicit activities.
He announced that Senegal and Gambia had also begun the importation of petroleum products from Ghana.
The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, in a speech read on his behalf by the Minister of State at the Ministry of Energy, Mr. Herbert Krapa noted that since the last GhIPCon in 2022, Ghana has made significant progress towards an efficient and sustainable energy industry.
He noted that the government had launched and executed the Gold for Oil Programme, which has lessened the strain on foreign exchange reserves needed for petroleum product imports, boosted local product supply, and significantly reduced premiums, leading to a relative decrease in petroleum product prices.
Additionally, the Vice President announced that the Board of the Petroleum Hub Development Corporation has been inaugurated, and a $12 billion agreement with the TCP-UIC Consortium has been signed to develop the first phase of the Petroleum Hub project in Jomoro, Western Region.
He highlighted that the country’s LPG accessibility has risen from 25% in 2020 to 40% by the end of 2023, and during this period, the government introduced the National LPG Promotion Programme, distributing LPG cookstoves and accessories to new users.
In their statements, Dr. Patrick Ofori, CEO of the Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors, and Dr. Riverson Oppong, CEO of the Association of Oil Marketing Companies, reiterated their commitment to working with the NPA to advance and sustain the petroleum downstream sector.
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