NPA addresses fuel shortage in north

The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has announced comprehensive measures to help address the pockets of shortage of petrol in the northern part of the country using a three-pronged approach.
The comprehensive measures, the NPA said, was adopted following a meeting held on Friday by the Technical Committee on energy set up by the Chief of
Staff to discuss modalities in order to resolve the issue.
This was contained in a press statement issued and signed by the Corporate Affairs Directorate of the NPA and copied the Ghanaian Times on Friday.
“Following reports of pockets of shortage of petrol in the northern part of the country, the Technical Committee on energy set up by the Chief of Staff, met today, January 10, 2025, to discuss modalities to resolve the issue”, the statement elaborated.
“The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) wishes to assure the general public that there is no cause for alarm. The logical challenge identified is being comprehensively resolved using a three-pronged approach,” it added.
As part of the three-pronged approach, the NPA, the statement revealed, had decided to grant Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) a special dispensation to load petrol from the Bulk Energy Storage and Transportation Company (BOST) depot in Kumasi to serve retail outlets in the five regions in the northern part of the country.
Also, the OMCs had been granted a special dispensation to load more petrol from depots in Tema to augment what was being loaded from Kumasi to serve the five regions in the northern part of the country.
The statement further indicated that arrangements were being made in collaboration with BOST to move nine million litres of petrol in the pipeline between the Buipe and Bolgatanga depots into storage in Bolgatanga to serve the five regions in the northern part of the country.
The NPA, therefore, encouraged the consuming public to avoid panic buying as the three-pronged approach was being implemented concurrently to immediately address the issue.
It also reassured Ghanaians of adequate fuel stock in the country as there were vessels lined up to discharge products into the country.
The Ghanaian Times in its publication on Friday reported that the Yendi Municipal and its adjoining districts were facing a fuel shortage as residents bought fuel at GH¢25 per litre on the roadside.
It’s also reported that the actual price of fuel per litre on the pump in the municipality was GH¢14.99 pesewas, while some of the fuel stations sell at GH¢15. 95 pesewas per litre.
The paper also added that Yendi, as the centre of supply of fuel to the neighbouring districts in the Eastern part of the Northern region, had not received fuel for the past two weeks as at the time of the publication.
The comprehensive three-pronged approach by the NPA was therefore a relief for residents not only in Yendi but in all the five regions in the northern part of the country.
BY BENJAMIN ARCTON-TETTEY