By Emmanuel Akli

Mr. Alex Mould, NPA

The alleged adjustment of fuel pumps at some of the fuel filling stations in the country, with the sole aim of cheating the consumer, has been blamed on major players in the industry.

Information picked up by The Chronicle indicate that some of the fuel station managers have adjusted their fuel pumps, to enable them recoup the money stolen from them by the Oil Marketing Companies  (OMCs) and tanker owners and drivers.

The Chronicle gathered that though flow meters are used at the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) to measure petrol and other fuel products loaded into petrol tankers for onward distribution to the filling stations, the same standard, which is internationally recognised, is not applied when the fuel is being discharged at the filling stations.

This reporter was told that sometime back, the fuel station managers wrote a petition to the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), urging the latter to compel the OMCs to use flow meters when discharging the product at the retail unit, instead of the measurement bar they had adopted.

The NPA, subsequently, wrote a memo to the OMCs about the complaints it had received, and urged the companies to resort to the use of flow meters.

The OMCs reportedly wrote back to the NPA, indicating that they could not afford the cost of the flow meters, and that ended the matter, as the petroleum regulating body failed to compel the former to acquire the flow meters to eliminate the cheating the station managers were complaining of.

A source, which spoke to The Chronicle, argued that the OMCs were unwilling to acquire the flow meters, because they are benefiting from the petrol stolen from the station managers, and that acquiring the equipment would block their illegal source of income.

The source alleged that after the petrol or diesel had been loaded at TOR, the petrol tanker drivers are under obligation to drive to their main yard, apparently to siphon some of the fuel, before proceeding to the fuel stations to discharge the product.

Some of the fuel station managers who spoke to The Chronicle said though a seal is usually put on the tankers, after loading fuel at TOR, it is always left ajar, and that the proper locking of the seal is done after the tanker driver had visited the main yard of his employers.

These nefarious activities, The Chronicle was told, is causing the fuel station managers to lose between GH¢3,000 and GH¢4,000 per 36,000 litres of petrol, which cost GH¢60,000.

Despite this naked robbery, the fuel station managers have remained quiet, for fear of being victimised by the OMCs.

According to the source, any fuel station manager who dares protest against the illegal siphoning of the fuel, will have his or her station taken away from him, and assigned a new station that is not well patronised.

Meanwhile, the managers also take loans from the banks to run the business, since the OMCs do not pay for the fuel they supply them. To avoid running at a loss, and be able to repay the loans they have taken from the banks, the fuel stations resort to cheating consumers by adjusting the fuel pumps.

Several attempts made by The Chronicle to get the NPA comment on the issue, proved futile. It has, however, been established that the use of flow meters to discharge fuel products at the fuel stations is an internationally accepted standard, which is being used in Togo, Nigeria, and other West African countries, except Ghana.

The issue of flow meters became a prominent feature in the middle of last year, when those being used by the Jubilee partners in measuring oil they export, reportedly broke down.

Stakeholders were of the view that if nothing was done to remedy the situation, our oil would be stolen, because the alleged use of the measurement bar could not give an exact measurement of the oil loaded into the cargo ships, and those on the Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) Kwame Nkrumah.

A stakeholder, who also spoke to The Chronicle, contended that the oil industry in Ghana was fraught with irregularities, and that if the government failed to put its feet on the ground, the mafia group operating in the sector would collapse the economy.

According to him, a couple of years ago, a number of petrol tankers were arrested in a special operation by the security agencies for carting fuel from TOR without paying a pesewa to the state.

Unfortunately, he continued, this case did not end anywhere, and this seems to have given the criminals operating in the sector the boost to dupe consumers and the state. More anon!

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