LPG marketing businesses have been asked by Dr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, the Chief Executive of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), to reconsider their opposition to the cylinder recirculation model (CRM) and adopt the policy.
He claimed that Senegal, Togo, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, and other nations in the West African subregion were all implementing CRM, and that Ghana could not afford to fall behind.
Speaking on Wednesday at the start of the 2024 Ghana International Petroleum Conference (GhIPCon) in Accra, the NPA Boss mentioned that he had observed the pushy commercials that LPG marketing companies (LPGMCs) were running to promote the idea of an LPG filling station.
Although he accepted that the LPGMCs might have the legal right to air the commercials, he advised the businesses to adapt and embrace the shift as it would guarantee convenience and safety in the nation’s LPG distribution and use.
“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.
CRM has the ability to provide more jobs along the value shift, according to Dr. Abddul-Hamid.
Among the job opportunities in the CRM value chain, he listed the operations of LPG bottling plants, depots, exchange sites, and the transportation of filled cylinders.
The NPA, in partnership with the Ministry of Energy, the Association of Oil Marketing Companies (AOMC), and the Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD), arranged a two-day conference with the theme “The Petroleum Downstream: Building a Future for Growth, Efficiency, and Sustainability.”
The main goals of this year’s GHIPCON, the sixth in the series, are to examine prospects and address important concerns in the petroleum downstream industry.
According to Dr. Abdul-Hamid, the downstream petroleum industry has grown over time into a thriving, dynamic sector with a growing private sector participation rate.
“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.
As a consequence of intentional government policy initiatives aimed at expanding the productive sectors of the economy, the NPA Boss said, Ghana’s neighboring countries, including Mali, Niger, Cote D’Ivoire, Togo, and Burkina Faso, had been importing petroleum products from the country’s petroleum downstream industry, which had improved economic performance.
According to him, 385,154,100 liters of petroleum products were reexported and transported to neighboring countries in 2023.
According to Dr. Abdul-Hamid, the rise in export volumes was evidence of the NPA’s notable achievements in reducing the nation’s illicit fuel operations.
He said that in order to keep making arrests of persons involved in illegal activity, the Authority has increased its cooperation with the navy, marine police, and immigration.
He declared that Senegal and the Gambia have started importing petroleum products from Ghana as well.
In a statement delivered on his behalf by Mr. Herbert Krapa, the Minister of State at the Ministry of Energy, Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia stated that Ghana has come a long way toward having an efficient and sustainable energy sector since the last GhIPCon in 2022.
He said that in order to keep making arrests of persons involved in illegal activity, the Authority has increased its cooperation with the navy, marine police, and immigration.
He declared that Senegal and the Gambia have started importing petroleum products from Ghana as well.
In a statement delivered on his behalf by Mr. Herbert Krapa, the Minister of State at the Ministry of Energy, Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia stated that Ghana has come a long way toward having an efficient and sustainable energy sector since the last GhIPCon in 2022.
The accessibility of LPG in the country has increased, he added, from 25% in 2020 to 40% by the end of 2023. During this time, the government launched the National LPG Promotion Programme, which involves giving LPG cookstoves and related accessories to first-time users.
The CEOs of the Association of Oil Marketing Companies, Dr. Riverson Oppong, and the Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors, Dr. Patrick Ofori, reaffirmed their commitment to working with the NPA to support the expansion and sustainability of the petroleum downstream industry in their statements.
Source: newsthemegh.com