Ghana Loses GHȻ18M To Marine Gas Oil Leakages

Last year, “Marine Gas Oil (MGO) leakages are estimated to have cost the nation GHȻ18million in lost tax revenue, while export dumping cost over GHȻ850million,” the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Mr. Alhassan Tampuli has revealed.

According to him, the petroleum industry have had corrupt and dishonest service providers who cheated the system with the dumping of export declared products and MGO Foreign declared products to be sold to foreign vessels for economic gain and tax avoidance.

Speaking at this year’s Downstream Colloquium organised by the NPA, Mr Tampuli said, the NPA in partnership with the Ministries of Energy and Finance have employed rigid measures to help reduce the leakages.

The measures, he revealed included the application of domestic taxes on MGO sold to foreign vessels and a collaboration with sub-regional neighbours to help account for products declared as exports to their countries.

“All these measures are aimed at removing the economic incentive to cheat the system and are seen to be yielding some results.

“MGO foreign for instance has reduced from 20million litres a month to 290,000 litres a month based on the Authority’s preliminary estimates,” Mr Tampuli said.

To ensure that the system is more efficient and less porous, the NPA would assist the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to achieve the Special Petroleum Tax (SPT) revenue target of GHȻ 1.8 billion as wells Ministry of Finance’s Energy Sector Levies Act (ESLA) revenue target of GHS 3.7 billion.

“The NPA recognises the vibrant and dynamic nature of our industry and is committed to formulating and implementing innovative strategies and policies that will ensure that the industry remains efficient and profitable and at the same time ensuring that the good people of Ghana get the best value for money,” the NPA boss assured.

New Model for LPG Distribution

As part of plans to ensure Ghanaians get proper value for money, the government through the Ministry of Energy would fully roll out its Cylinder Recirculation model for distribution and marketing of LPG.

This is to ensure Ghanaians have access to safe, clean and environmentally friendly LPG for increased domestic, commercial and industry usage—from the current 25% level to 50%.

By: Grace Ablewor Sogbey/ [email protected]