GOIL's fuel must be checked for high manganese-laden concerns - Franklin Cudjoe

The President of policy think-tank IMANI-Africa, Franklin Cudjoe has asked the National Petroleum Authority and the Ghana Standards Authority to properly scrutinize the fuel that GOIL sells to consumers.

According to him, since the BOST said the manganese-laden fuel that is affecting some cars cannot be traced to the Gold for oil policy, GOIL's fuel must be checked for any irregularities.

He wrote on his X page: "Is the Gold 4 Oil delivering bad fuel? BOST says no, and COPEC says yes. How does GOIL get its fuel? A number of folks seem to trace their engine sorrows to GOIL. Could this be checked?

On November 27, 2023, the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company Limited formerly BOST rejected claims of importing manganese-laden fuel under the government’s Gold-for-Oil Policy.

This is after reports that suggested that the importation of manganese-laden gasoline into the market is to blame for the underperformance of vehicles.

In a Facebook post, Franklin Cudjoe added that “BOST says its huge products imports under a cheaper Gold4Oil regime isn't responsible for the manganese overload many vehicle users have reported. The NPA's response has not been helpful. It says owners of turbocar engines should read their manuals to know acceptable manganese levels their cars can tolerate. NPA says the Standards Authourity has the responsibility for assurance standards so until GSA gives its verdict on which fuel contains the alarming levels of manganese destroying car engines, we wait.

“Well, many folks have complained about GOIL's Ron 95 ( gasoline) being the source of excessive levels of manganese, hence their woes. Perhaps the GSA can start from there as GOIL has the most branches and relies heavily on the Gold4Oil scheme for its products.”

In the statement by BOST to refute the claims, it said the government ensures that fuel imported under the policy undergoes the necessary checks.

Parts of the statement noted that “One ‘socialite’ noted on X, formerly Twitter, as follows; ‘yes, you will buy cheaper fuel but you will use more than your saved cash to do repairs’ in an apparent reference to the price reduction in the product prices even as the world market prices are close to the levels in November 2023, which saw diesel sell around GHS23 per litre in Ghana.”

BOST responded to the speculations as to the source of the alleged manganese-laden gasoline as follows:

1. The Bulk Energy Storage and Transportation Limited imports products on behalf of the government under the Gold for Oil policy.

2. The product imports are guided by specific regulations of the National Petroleum Authority, NPA, and include specific product component tests which the Ghana Standards Authority, GSA, carries out before products are passed for discharge (off-loading).

3. We have so far imported twenty-three (23) cargoes under the policy and none has failed the quality test as carried out by the GSA.

4. We wish to state unequivocally that, we have not imported any product under the policy which is off the specifications per the regulations of the NPA and the product specifications of the GSA.

5. We, therefore, implore the public to disregard the claims of our detractors regarding the importation of manganese-laden fuel and grant the regulatory authority of the petroleum downstream the time and space to investigate the exact source of the said product and also to tighten the regime to clamp out the room for the importation of potentially problematic products on to the market.

6. We shall continue to import products from safe sources without compromising on quality standards and leverage the volumes to serve the market at reasonable prices to beat down the cost of living in the country.

7. We maintain that the Gold-for-Oil policy is an innovative intervention that is helping with the reduction in product prices on the market whilst reducing the volume of demand for the dollars in the economy and its attendant effect on the currency exchange rate. The Policy, from the available data, has contributed to the relative stability of the forex and has largely ensured that the pass-through effect increases in the global market price of petroleum products is mitigated on the Ghanaian market.

SSD/MA

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