Fuel tanker drivers across the country have been directed by their mother association, the Ghana National Petroleum Tanker Drivers Union to boycott work from today, Monday, October 19.

The association in a letter said all the drivers must however report to their respective loading gantries.

“We are informing all tanker drivers across the country that on Monday, 19th October 2020, no driver should move a truck but report to their various loading gantries at Tema for Union Offices, Takoradi, Buipe, Kumasi respectively,” the letter from the association said.

It is unclear the reason for the directive but Citi News understands that the association will organize a press briefing later today to give details about the decision.

Previous strikes

In September 2020, tanker drivers operating at the Buipe depot in the Savannah Region declared an indefinite strike over the refusal of the Bulk Oil Storage and Transport (BOST) management to fix malfunctioning loading metres at the depot.

Months earlier, the drivers kicked against the implementation of the new Electronic Cargo Tracking System by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA).

The Electronic Cargo Tracking System and the National Command Centre from the National Petroleum Authority was launched in Accra in January 2020 to improve the efficiency of NPA in the monitoring of Bulk Roads Vehicles nationwide and also check illicit activities associated with the transportation of petroleum products across the country.

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But the drivers threatened to strike if the implementation is not suspended.

They said the NPA must hold on with the implementation until the partial lockdown announced in parts of the country earlier in the year due to the COVID-19 pandemic is over.

—Citinewsroom

Figure 1 details The Bost stock Losses of the 7 BIDECs

The BOST Product Loss Internal Committee has concluded its sittings with Bulk Import, Distribution and Export Companies (BIDECs) for about four weeks. The Committee met with the BIDECs in groups over findings from an inquiry into BIDECs’ claims for the loss of stock under the custody of BOST.

The Committee engaged Oil Channel Ltd, Fueltrade Ltd, Chase Petroleum Ghana Ltd, Vihama Energy Ltd, Hask Oil Company Ltd, Sage Petroleum, Cirrus Oil Services Limited and Ebony Oil & Gas Ltd.
The Bost committee affirmed and varied the claims by the BIDECs it met with the exception of Hask Oil who are currently in court over the matter.

The Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD) has donated some desktop computers to the Directorate of Information Technology at the Headquarters of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF). The donation on Friday, September 25, 2020, is in response to a request for assistance made by GAF’s Directorate of Information Technology.

Head of Finance and Industry Operation at CBOD, Richard Kissi, acting in the stead of the CBOD CEO Senyo Hosi presented the items on behalf of the management and board of the CBOD.

Director at the Ghana Armed Forces’ Information Technology Director, Lt. Col. Elikem Fiemavle thanked the CBOD for the show of kindness despite difficult times as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

“We have the honour to cordially convey our deep appreciation and gratitude for the positive response to our request for assistance. On behalf of the entirety of the Directorate of Information Technology of the Ghana Armed Forces, we sincerely thank you Mr. Senyo Hosi, the CEO and Management CBOD for the provision of desktop computers in support of revamping our Training Centre. Your support is a great vote of confidence in forging a stronger working partnership. Be assured that the item would be used for the intended purpose. God bless and best regards.”

Lt. Col. Elikem Fiemavle assured the Chamber that the computers would be put to good use.

The Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD) has donated some projectors to the Faculty of Arts of the University of Cape Coast. This follows a request the Faculty earlier made to the Chamber for assistance with procuring projectors to help improve teaching and learning.

Presenting the items on behalf of the board and management, CBOD CEO Senyo Hosi said, in the age of digitalization, it has become necessary for teaching institutions to use modern technologies.

“We need to have our students build on their presentation skills and lecturers administer [lectures] effectively with modern technology.

Dean of the Faculty Prof Kwame Osei Kwarteng who led a delegation from the UCC’s Faculty of Arts to receive the items here in Accra expressed gratitude to the CBOD.

“We would want to express our heartfelt gratitude to you for responding to our request. We are in the fourth industrial revolution, so now is the time that there is the need for us to use this equipment [projectors, computers, laptops, ipads, etc.] so that it can enhance teaching, learning and research. We don’t have them in our departments. Since I became the Dean I made it one of my visions to ensure we get it. Financially we were constrained and fortunately, we invited you to attend our roundtable discussion and I put this before you and you have graciously responded. It was Covid that delayed but better late than never. We are going to put it to proper use.”

Senyo Hosi encouraged corporate Ghana to lend their support to academia to help in developing the skills of Ghana’s youth with the right resources.

He also commended the UCC for its strides in education wished the Faculty all the best in the years ahead.

In 2019, Senyo Hosi participated in a round table discussion organized by UCC on the topic “Preparing Graduates for the World of Work: The role of Universities.”

The Chamber of Independent Power Producers, Distributors and Bulk Consumers (CIPDIB–Ghana) has questioned government’s commitment to regularly pay its members to ensure a continuous supply of power in the country.

This comes days after Government announced an amended Power Purchase Agreement with CENIT Energy Limited, a Ghanaian independent power producer.

According to the Chamber, government owes them about USD$1.5 billion.

Speaking to Citi Business News, CEO of the Chamber, Elikplim Kwablah Apetorgbor, said though they have welcomed the agreement, government must put in place measures to avoid plunging the country into an energy crisis.

“At present, ECG is heavily indebted to the entire power sector, even to the state institutions like VRA, GRIDCo. Likewise, they owe the IPP’s to a tune of about $1.5 billion. Now under this, government is going to add further responsibilities to it. What that means is that ECG must ensure that the fuel suppliers are regularly paid to guarantee the supply of power. The tolling agreement is not new to our power market so if ECG will not live up to expectation, it means we are going back to those days where fuel supply was the cause of irregular power supply. The bottom line is that there should be regularly payment for the supplier to guarantee continuous generation of power,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Chamber has warned of a shutdown of their thermal plants by the end of September 2020, if government fails to pay the USD$1.5 billion debt owed them.

“For us, we are open to this tolling arrangement if Ghana wants to carry the responsibility of the fuel supply. It’s a risk that we are transferring to them.  So if government wants to manage it, we are comfortable because we don’t need to go and borrow money to pay for gas. But we are saying that if government cannot pay us, we are going to shut down because we’ve had enough patience and tolerance. Our creditors are running after us, and we don’t have a choice,” added.

IPPs disappointed over silence on debt in Mid-year budget

Earlier this year, the Chamber of Independent Power Producers, Distributors and Bulk Consumers (CIPDIB–Ghana), expressed disappointment over government’s failure to address the debt of about USD$1.5 billion owed them in the Mid-year budget.

According to them, although the power sector has many challenges, the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, during the reading of the Mid-year budget review on Thursday, 23 July 2020, did not speak about how to address the chronic financial challenges and revenue shortfalls.

—citibusiness

The National Premix Fuel Secretariat (NPFS) has embarked on a digitisation drive aimed at ensuring transparency and blocking leakages in the premix fuel trade.

With the new drive, only fishermen with electronic cards can access the product, the Chairman of the National Premix Committee, Nii Lante Bannerman, has said.

He said the measure was to ensure that the highly subsidised product was not diverted into other uses.

The digitisation is in adherence to a directive from the Economic Management Team (EMT), led by the Vice-President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, who is championing the digitisation of government business.

Mr. Bannerman said under the pilot project at Nungua in the Greater Accra Region, all fishermen, and canoe owners had been registered and provided with the electronic card with which they could buy the product.

He indicated that the system would be scaled up in November this year to cover more landing beaches towards a full roll out in January next year.

The chairman said once there was subsidy on the product, which was sold on the open market, it could be purchased and used in any two straight engine, although it was dedicated for use by fishermen in outboard motors.

The product could, however, be used in any two straight engines, such as small generators, chain saw, and pumping machines.

Such diversions, he said, cost the government, hence the need for the intervention to properly target its use and cut out impersonators.

“The provision of the automated fuel dispensing and monitoring system would complement the already existing strategies being implemented by the government to address the shortages and the challenges associated with the allocation and distribution of premix fuel,” Mr. Bannerman said.

Details

The Administrator of the NPFS, Nana Abrokwa A. Asare, explained that the automated fuel dispensing system consisted of control units and fuel level sensors, adding that it also utilised the card system, where every canoe owner would be given a unique card for purchasing premix.

“By this, we will be able to weed out impersonators and people who do not need the premix, ensuring that only canoe owners get access in order to save the government money and also bring comfort to fishermen,” he said.

He added that the system would also help the secretariat check hoarding, which created artificial shortage and denied fishermen access to the product.

It would help discriminate the allocation of premix fuel to the right hands and guide its use for the intended purpose, mainly fishing activities, Nana Asare said.

He commended President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for his vision and leadership and the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Mrs. Elizabeth Afoley Quaye, for the guidance towards the implementation of the project.

Background

The government established the National Premix Fuel Committee in July 2009 to supervise the administration and distribution of premix, a hugely subsidised petroleum product required by fishermen to power their outboard motors.

For effective management, landing beach committees (LBCs) were set up at various landing beaches to empower fishermen to operate premix fuel stations at landing beaches.

The secretariat was also created to service the committee in the allotment and distribution of premix, working closely with the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) to ensure the unrestrained flow of the commodity to fishermen around the country.

The refinery refines and loads the product onto tankers of the assigned oil marketing companies for distribution to the various landing beaches.

Upon a review of the system in 2009, the secretariat was reconstituted, the supply chain streamlined and the fisher groups allowed to form LBCs to manage the fuel sale points at the landing beaches.

The committees were allowed to use 53 per cent of the proceeds for community development projects.

Projects

Nana Asare said there were scores of ongoing projects around the country that the leadership of the secretariat was hopeful would inspire further development in the communities where they were sited.

He indicated that plans were far advanced for the execution of more projects before the end of the year.

“The secretariat considers the many shows of appreciation for the projects across the country as a testament of the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development’s undeniable impact in fishing communities,” he said, adding that the secretariat remained committed to raising the bar even higher to further inspire growth and inclusive development.

The Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD) in partnership with S&P Global Platts will hold an industry Master on the impact of Covid-19 on the petroleum products supply and the way forward for Ghana. Key players in the Ghanaian petroleum downstream will be expected to take part in this virtual session slated for Tuesday, September 8, 2020,10am via Microsoft Teams.

Covid-19 and the subsequent containment measures by the government negatively affected many sectors in the Ghanaian economy. The closure of borders and movement restriction for instance were a major hit to the petroleum downstream sector.

As the petroleum downstream and other sectors recover from the shock brought about by the global pandemic and with the easing of Covid-19 related restrictions, the CBOD and S&P will present an assessment of the impact of market shocks from Covid-19 among others with stakeholders in the sector.

Policy and Research Manager at CBOD Dennis Dei-Tutu says “The virtual session will give insights into the operations of the downstream petroleum sector; associated risks within the sector and also the impact of market shocks from COVID-19 on the downstream petroleum sector among others.”

He added the presentation will cover other key topics such as freight rates, vessel chartering and the IMO 2020 and its impact on petroleum products, with special emphasis on diesel.

The opening address will be given by the CEO of the CBOD Senyo Hosi. The Master Class are John-Lauren Tronche, Market Engagement Manager for Africa and Europe – S&P Global Platts, Virginie Malicia, Editor EMEA region – S&P Global Platts, Charlotte Bucchioni, Associate Editor – S&P Global Platts and Christopher To, Associate Editor – S&P Global Platts

Participants of this major event include representatives from the Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors, the National Petroleum Authority, and the Association of Oil Marketing Companies among others.

The Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors is reviewing the current  National Petroleum Authority (NPA) ACT, 2005(ACT 691). This is in lieu of the overall amendment by the regulator, National Petroleum Authority.

The NPA seeks to amend and /or repeal certain sections of the NPA ACT,2005 (ACT 691) because of key developments that have emerged in the industry. Some of these are the deregulation and price liberalization regime, the introduction of ESLA and the 2018 Local Content policy and which have changed the dynamics in the sector.

In an interview, Policy and Research Manager Dennis Dei-Tutu announced “ the secretariat is putting together a committee of highly recommended persons [staff of BIDEC members] who will carefully review the Act.”

Meanwhile, members are kindly requested to review the existing NPA Act and send their comments to the Secretariat by Friday, 11th  September 2020.

The Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors has formally invited into its membership petroleum processing, storage, trading and related service companies, as well as allied oil industry organizations in the downstream sector. This is in accordance with Article 17 of the CBOD Constitution.

The Chamber offers four categories of members depending on their business object as stated below.
• Category A – BIDECs recording minimum annual sale-volumes of 100,000 metric tonnes;
• Category B – BIDECs recording minimum annual sale-volumes below 100,000 metric tonnes;
• Category C – Depots; and
• Category D – Refineries, logistics companies, and inspection companies in active operations shall be affiliate members.

Last week the secretariat formally sent out membership invitations to petroleum processing, trading and related service companies, and allied oil industry organizations.

This forms part of the Chamber’s broader agenda towards membership and coverage expansion.

NOTE: Interested applicants may click on the link below

The Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors has amended the billing system of the secretariat. This is a shift from the current throughput-based regime.
Per the new regime, Bulk Import, Distribution and Export Companies (BIDECs) are required to pay an annual fee of USD30,000 which is now included in the annual licence renewal fee which has been reduced from USD400,000 to USD330,000 payable to the National Petroleum Authority (NPA).

The old billing regime was approved to cover January 01 to June 30, 2020 invoices while the new fixed fee covers July 01 to December 31, 2020. This decision was reached by members at a meeting a few months back.