The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has announced plans to forestall the adulteration of petrol or diesel.
\nThere have been reports of petroleum retailers, especially fuel service station operators mixing premium quality refined petrol and diesel with government subsidized kerosene and pre-mixed fuel meant for fishermen and the poor. Kerosene and pre-mix fuel are cheaper than petrol or diesel.
\nRecently pre-mixed fuel was coloured to put a stop that practice, and the NPA has hinted that it would soon colour kerosene as well as introduce a new marker system which is used globally to prevent adulteration of transport fuels in Ghana.
\nThis new marker will help guarantee that subsidized kerosene and per-mixed fuel currently being diverted from the public distribution system reach the targeted people.
\nExplaining the new system in Accra at the general meeting of the Petroleum Retailers\u2019 Association, Daniel Amoah, Deputy Director at the NPA said, \u201cIf you drop a little quantity of another product, it will be detected and you will have no excuse.\u201d
\nAdulteration of transport fuel, which is currently a very flourishing business in Ghana, leads to economic losses, deterioration of engines, failure of vehicle components and safety problems.
\nAdulteration of fuel can also cause health problems directly in the form of increased emissions of harmful pollutants that affects the quality of air.
\nThough the NPA has been trying to track the main perpetrators in the country, tanker drivers and petroleum dealers have always blamed each other.
\nAccording to him, \u201cLet\u2019s not be greedy. Let us strive to do genuine business where we can cover our cost and gain fair returns on our investment.\u201d
\nThe general meeting, which was themed,\u201d the role of the retailer in the de-regulated petroleum industry\u201d served as a platform where dealers in the petroleum industry voiced out their concerns.
\nSylvester Yaovi Ampadu, President of the Petroleum Retailers\u2019 Association was of the view that members of the association can play a significant role \u201cif the correct working environment is created.\u201d
\nHe commended the NPA for separating the profit margins of the retailers from the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) as well as increasing it after the recent increase in the prices of petroleum products.
\nMr. Ampadu noted that the OMCs have been failing to pay the approved margins to the retailers.
\n\u201cWe are unhappy because the margins that the NPA approved for us are not being paid to us by the OMCs. Our association will continue to fight for what is due us.\u201d
\nHe therefore appealed to the NPA to compel the OMCs \u201cto do the right thing.\u201d
\nEsmond Arde-Acquah, Head of Material Science Department, who represented the Ghana Standards Board (GSB), mentioned that the GSB is poised to ensure that consumers get value for money and asked the retailers to cooperate with officials of the GBS when they visit their fuel service stations to verify the quality of fuel they sell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has announced plans to forestall the adulteration of petrol or diesel. There have been reports of petroleum retailers, especially fuel service station operators mixing premium quality refined petrol and diesel with government subsidized kerosene and pre-mixed fuel meant for fishermen and the poor. Kerosene and pre-mix fuel are cheaper than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-275251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n