The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has assured Ghanaians that the country has enough fuel stocks to withstand potential supply disruptions arising from escalating tensions in the Middle East.
The assurance comes as fears grow over the impact of possible conflict involving major oil-producing countries on global petroleum prices and supplies.
It also comes days after the government announced a ¢ 2-per-litre cushioning for diesel following another round of petroleum price increases.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express Business Edition on Thursday, the Director of Economic Regulation and Planning at the NPA, Abass Tasunti, said ensuring the availability of petroleum products remains the regulator’s highest priority.
“We keep saying at NPA that our topmost priority as a regulator is to ensure availability of petroleum products at all times, because trust me, if the fuel was not available in the first place, I’m not sure people would be more concerned about the price you are paying at the pump.
“Your interest would be to ensure that you get the product, and you can imagine the chaos and the impact non-availability of petroleum products will have on the economy that we have today.” He said the authority continuously plans its supply chain to avoid shortages by balancing domestic production with imports.
“Our priority has always been to ensure that petroleum products are always available, so we always keep. That’s why we plan, and so we always have a plan that ensures that we balance domestic production with imports to ensure there’s adequate stock.”
Providing an update on current stock levels, Mr Tasunti said Ghana has sufficient supplies of the two main transport fuels.
“In terms of actual stocks, we have a little over five weeks average for both petrol and diesel today.”
Responding to a request for a breakdown of the figures, he explained that the stock levels are constantly replenished and should not be viewed as a fixed quantity that is simply being depleted.
“Whenever we say we have a little over five weeks or a little over four weeks, as an example, it doesn’t mean that we are consuming that and nothing else is adding up.”
He said fuel imports continue without interruption.
“As we speak right now, the vessel is discharging products. We never actually have free time at the facilities that discharge the petroleum products, so almost every time products have been discharged to add up to what we have, and that’s why we have what we call the Line-up Programme to plan our imports.”
Mr Tasunti also pointed to local refining as another source of supply resilience.
“As Dr Kwaku Ofori earlier said, we also have the refinery… refining consistently and has not stopped production since last year July.” He said the combination of planned imports, continuous fuel discharge and local refining is designed to keep petroleum products available even as global uncertainty persists.
