Ghana has commenced the exportation of fuel and gas oil to Nigeria, Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali from the Bolgatanga Petroleum Depot operated by Bulk Oil Storage and Transport (BOST) Company Limited.

According to Ghana’s Minister of Petroleum, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah (photo), plans are underway to extend the exports to Liberia in few months.

He added that the government’s goal was to make Ghana the centre for the distribution of petroleum products in the West African sub-region.

The Bolgatanga Petroleum Depot, which has a capacity of 46 million litres of refined gasoline and gas oil, was re-opened in August 2015.

“Despite the global downturn in the oil industry, we have managed to increase production. Ghanaians have been empowered to be at the forefront of the industry and a liberalized petroleum downstream sector with strong private sector participation where product availability, competition, better customer service and lower prices are making Ghana the preferred destination for doing business in the sub-region,” he said.

The Minister explained that the Ghana Gas Company (Ghana Gas) had concluded the extension of its pipeline to the battery limits of the West Africa Gas Pipeline Company’s (WAPCo’s) Regulatory and Metering Station at Aboadze. The company now waiting for WAPCo to connect.

“In the long term, a 290-km onshore pipeline to ensure gas supply reliability and downstream infrastructure expandability is planned. Additional volumes will, in the long term, provide the opportunity for Ghana to realize its vision to utilize gas for the other industrial uses, beyond power generation, such as fertilizer and petrochemicals,” he said.

Buah said the country’s strategic stock was at the highest, with about one million metric tonnes of petroleum products imported from January to June 2016.

This he said was as a result of the restructuring of BOST, which had succeeded in guaranteeing the availability of petroleum products in the country.

“The restructuring of BOST has resulted in a turnaround in the performance of this strategic national asset which is now successfully fulfilling its mandate of ensuring the availability of petroleum products,” he noted.

Anita Fatunji