Non compliant oil dealers to be slapped with 5-year jail term - Energy Minister

Oil dealers who fail to comply with guidelines and regulations set out by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) will now be arraigned before court and if found guilty, slapped with a 15,000 penalty unit fine or serve a five-year jail term.

Offenders could also be slapped with both and have their license withdrawn.

“Mr. Speaker, the National Petroleum Authority is drafting regulations to cover oil and petroleum products supply and quality control which will be enforced when accented into law. Any petroleum service provider that is not compliant will upon summary conviction, be fined a penalty of up to 15,000 units or imprisoned up to five years or both and may have their licenses also withdrawn”, Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko revealed.

The Energy Minister made this observation when he appeared on the floor of Parliament, Thursday, to answer some questions relating to his ministry.

His comment was spurred by a question that stood in the name of the former Power Minister and NDC MP for Pru, Dr. Kwabena Donkor who had sought to inquire from the Energy Minister what measures the Ministry instituted to ensure that laws, regulations, and guidelines on specification for petroleum products are complied with, having regards to the statement by BOST that they have supplied or sold out some contaminated petroleum unto the local market.

The regulation, he added, is to ensure the safety of petroleum products in the country.