Energy magazine launched

The Energy Media has introduced into the Ghanaian market a maiden monthly magazine seeking to provide comprehensive information on the petroleum sector and provoke intellectual discourse towards improved policies.

The launch drew experts from the energy sector who engaged in intense debate on the introduction of full-price petroleum deregulation to prevent shortages, avert indebtedness and direct subsidies into productive initiatives.

Dr Joe Asamoah, Head of Editorial Committee of the Energy Ghana Magazine, said Ghana is a net importer of petroleum products, and thus prone to the changes in international oil prices and exchange rate volatility.

He said the exchange rate, taxes and margins were the fundamental factors that drove petroleum product prices, and that deregulation was good.

He said government, weaning itself from petroleum pricing, would allow subsidies to be invested in infrastructure and other productive initiatives that would spur development.

“It helps to avoid huge debt associated with under-recoveries and can also help to prevent shortages in the market,” he said.

The state removing or reducing its regulation from the petroleum prices would provide variety for the consumer in terms of quality service and price and also give the consumer advantages to explore for better satisfaction, he said.

However, Dr Asamoah said undoing governmental control over petroleum prices could be manna from heaven or fire from hell” depending on how the process was managed.

He said in order to derive the maximum benefits from the policy, government ought to amend some petroleum regulations to introduce full-price deregulations.

“Government should abolish exploration levy, cross subsidy levy, uniform petroleum price fund levy and Tema Oil Refinery debt recovery levy and redirect other taxes for collection outside the petroleum price – road fund levy,” he said.

He also urged the National Petroleum Authority to scrap the policy on fortnight revisions and that oil market companies should be free to decide on daily price revisions or weekly or as they deemed fit.

However, he said, government should introduce mitigation fund levy to support price stabilisation and the margins of OMCs and said Bulk Distributing Companies should be set transparently and monitored by the National Petroleum Authority.

Director of Special Services at the Petroleum Commission, Mr Kweku Boateng expressed hope that the magazine would offer relevant public education to manage expectation about activities in the petroleum field.

According to him, no country could achieve full deregulation as there would be the need for a minimal government control to protect the consumer and the environment.

He said the introduction of the policy would allow government to free some GH? 80 million it used to subsidise fuel products every month and direct it into other sectors of the economy to create jobs and bolster growth.

Mr Henry Teinor, the Chief Executive Officer of Energy Media Group, said the magazine would be local in focus and global in perspective.

“We believe that if the world would have to understand the African view of the energy sector, then Africa must be able to tell its story,” he said.

“It is also our hope that it [Energy Ghana Magazine] will set the tone for dialogue, increase understanding and preserve the principles of objectivity,” he added.