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Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko, has told Parliament that no individual is now allowed to lift contaminated oil from Ghana’s Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company (BOST).

This, he said, is part of interim measures to prevent the supply of contaminated fuel onto the Market following the BOST scandal where some 5 million liters of substandard fuel was reportedly brought onto the market by Movenpinna Energy and Zup Oil.

Responding to questions on the floor of Parliament, Boakye Agyarko said the Ministerial Committee charged with investigating the scandal had not completed its work, but their report would be submitted to the Mines and Energy Committee of the House when ready, after which a white paper will be issued on it. 

“One of the interim measures is that no longer will individuals be allowed to lift contaminated products out of BOST,” he said.

Boakye Agyarko explained that they have taken this decision because it usually becomes difficult to track the whereabouts of products lifted from BOST.

“We also noted that as soon as products were lifted out of BOST, you lost control of its track. As an interim measure, it is only BOST with its BVRs that can lift products to designated end-use consumers under the care and control of BOST. No longer are private companies allowed to lift products to unknown destinations. This became obvious during the preliminary investigation conducted by FDA itself whose preliminary results were released to the public. So we are taking the obvious which can remediate some of these deficiencies and shortfalls,” he added.

BOST contaminated fuel saga

BOST took centre stage in the media in July 2017, after it emerged that it had sold 5 million litres of contaminated fuel to two unlicensed companies, Movepiina and Zup Oil, which were allegedly set up a few days before the sale, causing Ghana to lose about GHc 7 million in revenue.

The Energy Ministry subsequently cleared BOST of any wrongdoing but the minority said they suspect it was an attempt to cover up the alleged rot.