Frema Osei Opare, Messrs Hassan Tampuli and Patrick Akorli at the event
The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has launched the second phase
of the Petroleum Product Marking Scheme (PPMS).
Speaking at the launching ceremony on Wednesday, February 19, 2020
in Accra, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NPA, Alhassan Tampuli, said the PPMS
entered a new phase of the programme on April 1, 2019.
According to him, Nationwide Technologies Limited (NTL) has been
contracted to undertake fuel marking activities in Ghana.
“It is worth noting that NTL has a sub-contractor agreement
with Authentix Inc,” he said.
He noted that phase two of the PPMS was anchored on technological
advancements in the markers as well as the detection proprietary equipment.
According to him, “The marker has been uniquely designed for
the Ghanaian market with a chemical composition to aid in immediate equipment
quantification and detection to enable the NPA make swift decisions on whether
retail outlets have dumped or adulterated the petroleum products being offered
for sale at retail outlets across the country.”
He added “the LSX3000 equipment stores all data in an encrypted
form and is tailored to restrict access. In the field, officers of the NPA and
key stakeholders such as dealers, station managers and station supervisors see
either a pass or fail result.”
“However, the marker concentration is stored internally in the
field device and the data, transmitted in real time to a cloud system. The
reason for this approach is to ensure that no individual including an NPA field
officer can alter the test results,” he added.
Mr. Tampuli indicated that “phase two of the PPMS will see the
NPA improving upon the sustained successful marking and field monitoring of
marked petroleum products; the reduction in the retail outlet failure rate,
which is indicative of the decrease in the malpractices in the distribution and
sale of petroleum products; an
improvement in stakeholder awareness in furtherance of the NPA’s medium
term strategy; significant reduction in the fuel tax revenue loss and subsidy
abuse; and improved quality of products at the retail outlets for consumers of
petroleum products.”
In this regard, he said an effective fuel quality management system
in place would ensure that the quality of petroleum products were constantly monitored
by fuel quality tests and analysis to mitigate all potential effects of poor
quality fuels and assure customers of improved quality fuel and value for
money.
In attendance at the launch were Chief of Staff, Frema Osei Opare
and Patrick Akpe Kwame Akorley.
BY Melvin Tarlue