The Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors, CBOD, says it is ready to take the necessary steps to significantly increase Ghana’s share of the supply market for petroleum products, to landlocked countries in the West African sub-region to 50 % in the short-term.

Currently, landlocked countries such as Mali and Burkina Faso are getting a majority of their petroleum products from companies in Ivory Coast, Benin and Niger, with Ghana only supplying about 1 percent of products to Mali.

The demand for petroleum products like Gasoline, Gasoil and LPG in a landlocked country like Mali is around 1.7 million metric tonnes per year.

Back in 2016, Ghana supplied about 6 percent of that amount.

But due to a number of challenges such as high transaction cost that comes with the transfer of funds from banks in francophone countries to Ghana, the long distance between Ghana and landlocked countries, as well as high taxes on Ghanaian petroleum products meant for re-exports, Ghana only supplied about 1 percent of all petroleum products to Mali.

During a courtesy call by Malian Petroleum Regulators on Ghana’s Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors in Accra, stakeholders from the two countries cataloged all the issues preventing an increase in the volumes transported from Ghana to Mali and discussed possible solutions.

CEO of the Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors, Senyo Hosi, highlighted the importance of landlocked countries like Mali to their expansion drive.

“Our conversations have been mainly focused on how to optimize the service quality and our competitiveness to be a dominant contributor to their market. Ghana has lost grounds significantly to the likes of Senegal, Ivory Coast, Benin and Niger. Going forward, our ability to grow will be dependent on our ability to penetrate our landlocked or Sahelian market.”

The head of the Malian delegation to Ghana, the Deputy Director General at the National Office Of Oil Products (ONAP) in Mali, Issa Kondo, said they welcome an increase in the quantity of products lifted from Ghana to Mali, and are currently working with the National Petroleum Authority to address challenges that may arise.

They requested for example that the NPA relaxes its requirement for Ghanaian companies to provide bank guarantees before they are allowed to lift products to Ghana.

“With the NPA, we really looked at the guidelines they have in place concerning the export of petroleum products to Mali, and we have all identified some bottlenecks preventing people from coming to buy products from Ghana. And so we are all currently committed to addressing those challenges going forward.”

The CEO of the Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors, Senyo Hosi, added that his outfit will be setting up a technical committee alongside engagements with the relevant stakeholders, to ensure effective solutions are implemented to help increase Ghana’s share of the supply market to Mali.

“We want to set up a closed-group committee with all the key stakeholders to review the entire export structure and define clearly the areas of competitiveness like currency issues, taxes, pricing and regulations, and implement steps and actions to correct whatever problems exist to ensure we increase our market share.”

Source: Citinewsroom.com