DIESEL SHORTAGE CEASES

The acute diesel shortage which hit the country about three weeks ago has eased considerably . Most of the filling stations the Graphic visited yesterday in Accra had their allocations of diesel over the weekend. According to the attendants , the struggle that characterised the sale of the product to motorists during the shortage period is no longer there .

At the Darkuman Mobil Filling Station , the attendant told the Graphic that the station took delivery of 27,000 litres of the diesel yesterday morning. At the Total filling station at the Ring Road Central , it was learnt that the station took delivery of 13,000 litres of the product on Saturday.

The situation was not different at the elf station and the Goil filing station on the 'Oxford Street' at Osu as the two stations took delivery of about 9,200 litre and 13,500 litres respectively of the product on Saturday. At the shell filing stations at Adabraka , the Graphic was told that the station took delivery of about 4,500 litres of diesel .

Meanwhile the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation(GNPC) in a press release at the weekend said 30,500 metric tonnes of diesel is currently being discharged to the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR).

The release said this forms part of the first of the oil cargoes contracted to be supplied by Mobil starting from the middle of April.

According to the release , another vessel carrying 32,000 metric tonnes of the product is also expected to arrive at the Tema Harbour on Monday while a further 5,000 metric tonnes of the product which was sourced from Nigeria has also arrived .

The statement said in view of the congestion that might arise at the harbour, the GNPC has proposed to TOR to have the vessel move to Takoradi to discharge into storage tanks.

From Koforidua Ransford Tetteh reports that the diesel supply situation in the municipality has improved considerably as at Sunday .

The long queues hitherto associated with services at petrol filling stations disappeared following the delivery of diesel and other petroleum products to most stations at Koforidua . Nehemia Owusu Achiaw reports from Kumasi that the shortage of petrol, diesel and kerosene which hit the city and other parts of the Ashanti Region is gradually easing. This is the result of increased supply of fuel, selling stations in the metropolis and other parts of the region . Visits to some of the filling stations showed that the queues for petrol were absent. However there were still problems with diesel, though diesel supply has improved .

Janet Quainoo reports from Cape Coast that fuel supply situation has improved in the Cape Coast municipality, following the delivery of a total of 27,000 litres of diesel to two Shell Filling stations.

From Takoradi George Folley reports that the long queues for diesel persist in the Sekondi Takoradi municipality despite assurances by the Tema Oil Refinery that 25,000 tonnes of diesel fuel has arrived in the country. 'Almost all the filling stations in the twin - city are experiencing long queues .'

Source: Graphic