Eight-member committee to probe BOST ‘dirty’ oil saga

The Energy Ministry has set up an eight-member committee to investigate the circumstances leading to the sale of over 5 million litres of contaminated fuel by the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company Limited (BOST).

The Committee will be chaired by the sector Minister, Boakye Agyarko.

The membership of the committee is made up of officials drawn from the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Ghana Standards Authority, Civil Society Groups and other stakeholders.

The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers Tuesday called for the prosecution of officials of BOST over the sale of some 5 million liters of contaminated fuel and according to the NPA the companies that acquired the product are not licensed.

BOST had earlier sanctioned the sale of the contaminated fuel out of a number of options after considering that to be economically prudent and according to the Petroleum Chamber, a meeting convened by the NPA demanded that the transaction should be halted and a recall of some 421,000 liters of the fuel which had already been discharged

But its investigations have proven that not a single liter of the contaminated fuel has been returned, with some being sold at some pumps across the country.

Announcing the formation of the committee at the Energy Sector mid-year review workshop which opened at Ada Wednesday, Mr. Agyarko said the ministry has received preliminary report of investigations conducted on the issue by the NPA.

He said “We note that BOST has so far evacuated a total of 471,000 liters of the said product and has currently suspended evacuation in compliance with NPA instructions. We wish to assure the general public that the Ministry is determined to ensure that the integrity of the quality of petroleum products supplied in the country is protected.”

He added “the terms of reference for the Ministerial Committee includes but will not be limited to the following: determine the circumstances that created the off-spec product; review the procedures undertaken by BOST to evacuate the product, ascertain the quality on the remaining quantity of the product, determine if the product can be corrected and if not determine the alternative uses of the product and review the transaction in its entirety.”