…But Minority raises red flag over oil sale

Following the sale of contaminated fuel product to the volume of five million litres to a company known as Movenpiina by the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation (BOST) Limited, the Minority in Parliament has waded into the disturbance and is calling for investigations into the matter.

According to the Minority, the sale of the off-spec product was done under very dubious and bizarre circumstances in another clear example of escalating corruption in the government of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Even more disturbing, they said, was the explanation offered by BOST to justify the sale of the contaminated product, as well as the circumstances surrounding the sale, which, the Minority held, clearly lacked transparency and integrity.

Addressing a section of the press yesterday at Parliament House, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, former Minister for Energy, in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, said: “It must be mentioned that under proper regulatory and supervisory protocols, under no circumstance should the BOST Co. Ltd experience such high levels of contamination as we are witnessing.”

Posing a couple of questions on what could have led to the contamination of the products, and why the particular tank in question was not properly discharged and cleaned before the intake of the fresh fuel which led to the contamination, the Ellembelle Member of Parliament (MP) said the justification by BOST that the contaminated products were sold for use by manufacturing companies was untenable.

Explaining, he said: “The norm and practice is that, when such contamination occurs, corrective treatment of these products is undertaken by the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) through blending.

“Why did BOST not arrange with TOR for the treatment of this particular fuel?”

Mr. Buah said the Minority had available information indicating that BOST failed to exhaust all means to ensure that it blended the contaminated fuel, therefore, the argument that the blending could not be done at TOR, because the CDU was down, was most untenable.

He said: “These so-called off-spec products are not the SLOPS that are usually sold by BOST. We, also, wish to state that SLOPS are usually in small quantities. SLOPS are sediments of fuels in a tank, and are usually in small quantities, and cannot be compared with five million litres of contaminated fuel.

“The claim by BOST that this contaminated product was sold at a competitive ex-depot price is false and cannot be justified.

“When was the competitive bidding process initiated, and who were the companies that participated? Incontrovertible evidence available confirms that Movenpiina Company was the only company BOST dealt with in the sale of this contaminated product, in a sole-sourced transaction. It is, therefore, erroneous to suggest that the sale was done under a competitive process.

“[The] Managing Director took a decision to grant to Movenpiina Co. an Open-Credit sales arrangement against all the advice from his own staff. This means that the company bought the products without paying for it, and, in turn, sold the products to a third-party company, Zupoil, at 30% higher. This smacks of high level corruption.

“We further wish to know what culminated in the interdiction of General Manager of Terminals, Mr. Fred Adarkwa, and the Trading Department Manager, Mr. Nana Obeng, all of BOST.

“Was it because they strongly kicked against the clandestine process of selling these products? We have received information that these contaminated fuels, which were originally meant for industrial usage by the steel, garment, petrol chemical, as claimed by BOST, by companies to run their machinery, and, certainly not for the running of vehicle engines, has ended up in the open market, against the NPA's directive not to do so.

“The resultant effect will mean damage to vehicle engines and its accompanying side effects to the innocent Ghanaian consumer. Furthermore, our checks reveal that the contact number on Movenpiina is the same number of the BOST MD's private office in Airport Residential Area.

“The Minority has also noted with trepidation the revelation that the said Movenpiina Company is currently a Bulk Oil Transporter at BOST, carrying huge petroleum products across the country, when they are not registered. This is not only illegal, it is also extremely risky, because when those products are lost, it will be at the cost of the tax payer, as there's no insurance covering the said contract.”

The Minority, Mr. Buah said, would place on record that their further checks revealed that, BOST had never sold any contaminated products before, saying: “They always blend the products to correct it to meet industry specifications, as outlined by NPA and Ghana Standard Authority.

“What BOST has sold in the past is SLOP, and not contaminated products. As we speak, BOST imported a full cargo declared by NPA as off-spec. The company that brought in the product is called Morco Energy. That product is currently being blended at TOR to correct it. We wonder why the five million litres did not go through the same process to correct it?”

By Inusa Musah.