Nothing untoward in BOST, BB deal – Agyarko

The Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko has rubbished allegations that the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company (BOST) has illegally sold some 1.8million barrels of crude oil.

The crude oil was sold to BB Energy Company at a discounted price leading to the loss of GH¢23million in revenue to the state, the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) alleged.

It has therefore announced at a press conference Monday, March 19 that it was going to petition the office of the Special Prosecutor to launch a forensic audit into the alleged shady transaction.

“There was some motivation for people to do what they did and for which we are asking for proper, thorough, forensic investigations to be conducted to unravel whatever these motivations were for selling at the time when world market prices are going up Ghana’s oil cheap,” observed the Executive Director of COPEC, Duncan Amoah at the press conference.

The current controversial transaction which occurred in September last year came months after a major scandal involving the sale of some five million litres of contaminated fuel.

But speaking to Journalists Thursday Mr. Agyarko said even though he is opened to a probe of COPEC’s allegations, he believes nothing untoward happened.

He said: “Look the current matter that all of you are jumping up and down about, the quibble crude was not put in those tanks yesterday. It is part of our inheritance and the complexity about that matter is what BOST is trying to resolve. If you leave me with a problem and I’m trying to unwind the problem and solve it and you stand on the sidelines and hoot I’ll ignore you.”

Reacting specifically to the GH¢23million financial loss to the state incurred by BOST as a result of the transaction, Mr. Agyarko snorted quizzically that: “What’s the loss?”

“I’ll respectfully say that we all have to try and understand the pricing methodology in the crude trade. I think that is one big gap that all of us suffer for. I’ll respectfully say that let’s sit down and come to an understanding of how these pricings are done. Once you understand the pricing and methodology…then we’ll come to understand that nothing untoward has happened,” he pointed put.

“But even then, let’s investigate it. But to say that you’re going to the special prosecutor to me is not…for want of a better word I’d leave at that,” he added.