NPA to address challenges identified during CRM piloting

The Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Authority, Alhassan Tampuli, has said all challenges identified in the piloting of the Cylinder Recirculation Model (CRM) will be addressed before full implementation.

“In recent times, we have had calls by some industry players to halt the implementation of the CRM pilot phase due to some challenges encountered with the pilot exercises in Kade and Obuasi. We need not remind ourselves that one of the reasons for the pilot is to help address difficulties that may arise when we eventually move to a full scale implementation of the CRM policy. Pilot exercises are conducted to help guide us to identify problems and fix them and in light of these problems encountered in the pilot areas are being addressed,” he said.

To address the challenges, he said the CRM policy will develop a market-driven structure to ensure safety and increase access of LPG to 50 percent by 2030. It will also to ensure the existence of robust and standard health, safety and environmental practices in the production, marketing and consumption of LPG.

Mr. Tampuli said this when he launched the 4th pilot implementation programme of the CRM under the theme: ‘CRM: securing our safety, creating more jobs’ at Jomoro in the Western Region.

Per the CRM policy, there will be LPG Bulk Distribution Company (LBDC) whose responsibility will be to either import or buy the LPG from local refineries or/and gas processing plant, such as Tema Oil Refinery and Ghana National Gas Company, and store the LPG in their bulk storage facility.

The LBDC will then sell the LPG in bulk to either the bottling plant for the sole purpose of filling the empty cylinders or to the LPG Marketing Companies (LMCs) for bulk sale to industrial end-users – factories, restaurant, and mini-power plants- and also to autogas users.

The LPG bottling plant company will be responsible for filling the empty cylinders for onward distribution to LMCs. The LMCs will be responsible for procuring, branding, and maintaining the cylinders.

There will also be specialized trucks to transport the filled cylinders from the bottling plants to the retail stations or exchange points, where consumers will exchange their empty cylinders for filled ones.

Explaining how the Jomoro pilot project will be carried out, he said “a total of 3,983 cylinders have been procured for Jomoro alone, to augment the cylinders you already have in your homes.

All you need to do is to pick your empty cylinder, walk to the gas station and exchange it for a filled cylinder.”

He said cylinder sizes ranging from 3kg, 6kg and 14.5kg, among others, have been made available for the exercise.

The procured cylinders, according to him, are currently being branded in the colours and logo of the LPG marketing companies.