NPA cautions public against panic buying of LPG

Supply of LPG is expected to normalize within the next few days. The National Petroleum Authority has fixed the technical problem which led to the acute shortage of the commodity last week.

LPG outlets in parts of the Greater Accra and Ashanti regions have been without the fuel for more than one week.

The situation is creating inconveniences for households and drivers who use LPG.

But Public Affairs Manager of NPA, Yaro Kasambata, told XYZ BUSINESS supply will normalize soon.

He explained that “the TOPPING and the RFCC Units of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) were shut down on Monday July 30, 2012 as a result of power failure, adding that, “the power failure affected some mechanical parts of the TOPPING and the RFCC Units resulting in the suspension of the production of certain petroleum products such as LPG.”

He said the situation reduced the supply of LPG to the market between Tuesday, July 31 and Wednesday, August 1, until a vessel with a consignment of 8,000Metric Tons (belonging to Fueltrade Limited) arrived to deliver into the storage of TOR.

Mr. kasambata stated that prior to this situation, a buffer of 2000 metric tons (equivalent to about 2 days consumption) could not be delivered to the market because they were deemed off-specification due to an operational challenge which increased the sulphur level in the LPG and subsequently rendered it unwholesome for the domestic consumption.

He however stated that as at Sunday, more than 5000 Metric Tons of LPG has been discharged and that the public should see improvement in supplies at retail outlets soon.**