Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber of Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs), Dr. Riverson Oppong, has announced that the country may experience a fuel shortage in the coming days.
According to him, the suspension of the gold-for-oil program and the operational halt of Sentuo Oil’s refining activities can be attributed to the looming crisis in the petroleum sector.
He explained that Bulk Distribution Companies (BDCs) ceased to import because of the previous government’s gold-for-oil program.
Dr. Riverson Oppong called on the government to urgently take steps to avert any fuel shortage that is likely to hit the country.
In a report qouted by Citi News, the Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber of Oil Marketing Companies said, “When the gold-for-oil program started, it peaked, and when it peaked, we in the petroleum sector saw this coming. Anytime you are drawing a graph and there is a peak, there is a fall, and we warned the government, but it wouldn’t listen.”
“And when the supply was cut to an extent and when the Sentuo Oil refinery also ceased to produce, or let’s say, process, we anticipated a loss. Today, the fuel shortage we find in the market has to do with the PMS. BDCs ceased to import because there was gold-for-oil,” he added.
The gold-for-oil policy was a strategic program launched by the Akufo-Addo government.
It aimed to utilise the Bank of Ghana’s Domestic Gold Purchase (DGP) program to support the importation of petroleum products into the country.
The initiative was to free up foreign exchange resources and reduce pressures on the central bank’s foreign reserves and the banking sector.
It also sought to procure petroleum products at competitive prices through Government-to-Government arrangements.
The BoG purchases all gold produced and exported by companies with licensed small-scale concessions, including community mines.
This gold is then used to pay for oil supplies to Ghana, either through barter trade or via a broker channel.
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
