News Guide Africa

Tag: LPG

  • LPG price to go down as NPA seeks Cabinet support to remove taxes

    LPG price to go down as NPA seeks Cabinet support to remove taxes

    The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) is seeking the approval from Cabinet to remove taxes on Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) to make it available to Ghanaians and to ensure clean cooking in the country.

    The Chief Executive Officer of NPA, Dr Mustapha Abdul- Hamid, made this disclosure while speaking at the launch of the National Awareness and Sensitisation Campaign on the use of LPG in Accra.

    According to him, the decision to achieve 50 per cent LPG penetration with the introduction of the Cylinder Recirculation Module (CRM) will be achieved if the taxes on the products are removed.

    He said the NPA intends to make LPG affordable and accessible in the country with the CRM as the cylinder bottling company will own the cylinders and later supply them to the customers.

    He added that this will ensure the cylinders’ safety and push distribution to the country’s remote areas.

    He appealed to investors to come to the northern region to establish a cylinder bottling plant for a rebate to ensure people in these regions access affordable LPG.

    “I will call on investors ready to invest in the area of a cylinder bottling plant in the North East and Upper East Regions to get some tax holidays,” he assures.

    For her part, the Ambassador for Clean Cooking Campaign and wife to the Vice President, Samira Bawumia commended NPA and the Ministry of Energy for their drive in ensuring LPG is affordable and available to Ghanaians as part of the clean cooking campaign

  • 5years ban on construction of new gas filling stations lifted

    5years ban on construction of new gas filling stations lifted

    Adnan Adams Mohammed

    The five years old ban on construction of new Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) stations in the country since 2017, has been lifted last week.

    The National Petroleum Authority announced the lifting of ban as an emergency solution to end a strike action by Gas tanker drivers and LPG Marketing Companies which led to the scarcity of gas for domestic and commercial use across the country.

    The striking drivers and LPG marketers, apart from their poor working conditions, they also cited the ban on the construction of gas stations across the country as a major reason for their strike.They threatened not to return to work until their grievances were addressed.

    “Cabinet has granted a special dispensation to allow the completion of the construction of stranded LPG stations across the country”, the NPA stated in a press statement last week.

    The NPA has asked all Oil Marketing Companies and LPG companies to begin processes for approval to continue their construction works.

    “We are, therefore, requesting all OMCs/LPGMCs who were affected by this directive to resubmit their applications to the Authority”, the statement added.

    Following the Atomic Gas Explosion that killed at least 7 people and injured 132 in Accra, Government after a crucial cabinet meeting, announced a number of directives, about ten of them, geared towards sanitizing the fuel distribution and retail sector, to improve safety and save more lives.

    One of the decisions, as approved by the President, was an immediate cessation of the construction of new fuel stations, to allow the NPA and its allied agencies, to carry out a proper audit of all the facilities.

    The President also ordered the implementation of the Cylinder Re-circulation Model of Liquefied Petroleum Gas distribution within a year.

    The module, proposed by NPA, will ensure that LPG filling points are sited out of densely populated areas and commercial centres.

    According to the statement signed by the Chief Executive of the NPA, Dr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, “We are pleased to inform you that Cabinet at its 35th Sitting, held on August 3rd 2022, has granted a special dispensation to allow the completion of the construction of stranded LPG stations across the country, that were affected by the ban on the construction and operation of new LPG facilities in 2017.”

    Mr Hamid urged all entities affected by the ban to resubmit their applications to the NPA.

    The Tanker Drivers and LPG Marketing Companies have consequently called of their strike.

    The Ghana National Tanker Drivers Association had complained about its working conditions and treatment from the authority and the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company.

    The drivers also raised concerns with the seals and tracking devices that check the integrity of the fuel in the transportation process.

  • Fuel price spikes: NPA to remove taxes to manage prices

    Fuel price spikes: NPA to remove taxes to manage prices

    Adnan Adams Mohammed

    As consumers of petroleum products keep calling on government to intervene to help tame or reduce the rate of increase in prices, the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has assured of a possible solution.

    The Authority indicates that, discussions are ongoing with the Ministries of Finance and Energy to find a manageable solution to the persistent rise in fuel prices.

    Within the past few weeks, prices of fuel at the pumps have consistently rise to hit an all-time high of about GHC8.30 per litre as at last week. Consumers have attributed the spikes to exchange rate escalation and too many taxes. But, NPA believes the discussions with the ministries will focus largely on the possible removal of some taxes on petroleum products.

    “We are also concerned, there are a lot of discussions we are having with the Ministry of Energy, and we are seeing if together with the Ministry of Finance, we will make some proposals,” Head of Pricing at the NPA, Abass Ibrahim Tasunti has said.

    Fuel prices at some fuel stations have crossed the GH¢8 per litre mark in the first week of March 2022 with predictions that the commodity will sell at GH¢9.00 per litre by close of the month.

    But Abass Ibrahim Tasunti maintains that the situation can be blamed largely on current happenings on the global oil economy; thus, the government will play a role in cushioning citizens.

    “For us, we don’t make the fiscal and economic policies for government on how we regulate the fuel industry because the pricing is done according to world formula. If you look at the taxes in the formula, they are approved by Parliament. So, if any of them are to be removed, it has to go back to Parliament.”

    In the meantime, the Minority in Parliament is demanding the immediate scrapping of taxes in the petroleum price build-up that have outlived their purpose.

    It argues that those taxes constitute about 40% of the price build-up on the products.

    Making a strong case for its removal, the minority said such a move would drastically reduce the price of fuel and subsequently relieve Ghanaians who have endured high prices of the products.

    “At the time the price of crude in the world was around US$30 we had a problem with the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah crude, so production came down.”

    “That is why the Special Petroleum Tax was introduced to help us rake in some revenue. In the 2016 budget, we had introduced sub-clauses that by 2017 this tax should be off and the reason is that by then, we would have sorted the issues with the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah”, Member of Parliament’s Mines and Energy Committee, Edward Bawah said.

    The Institute for Energy Security (IES) is also predicting a four percent increase in the prices of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), Diesel, and Petrol at the pumps in the first pricing window of March.

    A barrel of Brent Crude Oil which was going for about $66 a year ago, and $78 at the start of 2022, jumped 7.3% to $103.9 a barrel in February.