Govt absolved from cost of future fuel contamination

The management of the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation (BOST) Company, has resolved to pass on the cost of any future oil contamination incidents to the company’s depot managers across the country – whether company or third party contactor owned – wherever such an incident occurs, thereby relieving government of any cost arising out of such negligence from the company.

BOST has in recent times, received intense public criticism over incidents of fuel contamination between 2016 and 2017, with persistent operational losses still being recorded to date from this, as well as the diversion of petroleum products and outright theft.

The rot of contamination, according to both the African Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) and BOST itself, has resulted in the loss of approximately US$300 million so far.

Meanwhile, the company has also admitted that a staggering US$2million is recorded each month as transmission losses. In response, BOST says it is rehabilitating its river vessels to pave way for the resumption for transporting petroleum products by inland waterway to various depots.

As part of the water transport strategy, the management team is to put all of the company’s four barges in operation to facilitate the transportation of petroleum products from the south to the northern parts of the country through the Volta Lake Transport system.

The long-term strategic target is for BOST to earn revenue of about US$810 million in five years from an expected investment of US$180 million.

The company has asked government for financial support of US$150 million out of which US$ 65 million would be used for infrastructural development, such as fixing broken-down facilities, rehabilitation or replacement of over-aged pipelines among others and about US$75 million is earmarked to engage in fuel trading.

BOST’s MD, Mr. Edwin Provencal insists that he is determined to ensure that the issue of fuel contamination becomes a thing of the past.

“One of the things we’ve done was to engage with management of all depots which had been outsourced to third parties, letting them know that all costs arising out of their omission or commission will be borne solely by them. “No more contamination – our depot managers will be made to bear the cost if it happens,” he stated.

As part of measures to cut down expenditure, BOST is also planning to forego foreign training for its staff, opting for more affordable technical training from the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), just as other West African nations do send their technical staff for training at TOR.