News:
April 11, 2014
Chairman of the Parliament’s Select Committee on Mines and Energy, Dr. Kwabena Donkor has added his voice to calls for the BOST-TSL deal to be halted.
The Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company, has outsourced the management of its petroleum storage facilities within the Accra Plains Depot to TSL Logistics Ghana Limited, a subsidiary of a Nigerian Company. Bulk Oil Distribution Companies are however against the arrangement arguing that local industry has better capacity to execute it to the country’s economic advantage.
Dr. Kwabena Donkor also tells JOY BUSINESS, the Energy Minister needs to prove government’s commitment to the local content agenda by reversing the deal.
“The Honourable Minister for Mines and Energy has competently pushed the local content agenda and I believe it is within his remit to call BOST to order. I am particularly concerned because I was the first Chief Executive of BOST, I set up the company and it was never envisaged that the entity charged with keeping our strategic oil stocks will outsource this function and role to a foreign entity. It is a sad day for the oil and gas sector and I believe Minister would and must call BOST to order,” he said.
The National Petroleum Authority has also confirmed to JOY BUSINESS, it has not been consulted in the deal as the sector regulator as required by law.
Dr Kwabena Donkor is also backing plans by Bulk Oil Distributors to form a consortium to take over the management of the BOST’s facilities.
“I [support] the idea of a consortium because I am aware that, for example, three of the local companies – Chase, Cyrus and Fuel-Trade – have tank farms that are each bigger in capacity than that of the Nigerian company. And we cannot be talking about promoting the interest of Ghana and still want to go this way particularly when this is backed by legislation.
“Even though the legislation is strictly for the upstream sector, the spirit behind it and the policy encompasses the whole value chain from the well-head to the tank-front. With the legislation in place, BOST and agencies under the energy ministry should be the first to want to promote local content and must be seen to want to promote government’s local content agenda,” he concluded.