Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company Limited
The Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company Limited (BOST) has discovered the adulteration of petroleum products at its Kumasi depot in the Ashanti Region.
In a statement, BOST, said: “As standard practice, products are tested to confirm their chemical composition before loading into trucks. Upon arrival at their destination, the same product testing is carried to ensure what was loaded onto the truck is what has been transported before discharge is permitted.”
“During the pre-discharge testing of product aboard a BRV, it was discovered through the basic test that the chemical composition of the product at the destination differed from what was loaded on the truck”, it added.
“BOST made a call for confirmation testing, which proved that the result of the basic test was correct: the product aboard the truck was adulterated,” the statement explained.
According to BOST: “The driver of the truck is in custody, helping the investigative agencies to get to the bottom of the matter”.
“Further pre-discharge tests disclosed eight (8) more trucks had their contents adulterated”, the statement disclosed.
It added: “The drivers of these vehicles are nowhere to be found as we speak, but their respective trucks are being held pending the conclusion of the investigations”.
“This brings the total number of trucks with adulterated contents to nine (9),” BOST noted.
The adulteration of fuel products at BOST comes a few days after the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) detective hefty thievery at the company.
A statement signed by the Interim Management of the company on Tuesday, 5 October, said: “The Interim Management Committee (IMC) at the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) Ltd. has, as part of its ongoing mandate to conduct technical and HR audits, and also access viable business partnerships for the refinery, have concluded that consistent product and financial losses need to be eradicated completely if the Refinery is to meet its vast potential. Hence the IMC has committed to establishing a ‘zero-tolerance culture for unacceptable product losses’, commenced investigations into a number of product storage and transfer losses recorded in the company over a period of time”.
“Consequently, a number of workers who hold various positions of responsibility and accountability with respect to the transfer of products have been queried and interdicted pending the outcome of investigations”.
“The IMC however wishes to reiterate that the investigations will be carried out with due consideration to a fair process. We implore everyone to be patient and not jump to any conclusions until investigations have been completed”.
“Individuals who are found not responsible nor accountable for the financial and product losses would be fully restored while those found responsible and accountable in the chain of command (with respect to product losses during storage, movement and transfer will be dealt with accordingly”.
Below is a list of product losses at TOR, which has triggered the management action:
A. The disappearance of 105, 927 litres of gasoil, which belongs to a BDC client on 4th September 2021.
B. The wrongful loading of 252,000 litres of aviation turbine kerosene (ATK) instead of regular kerosene into BRV trucks at the loading gantry between 21st and 25th September 2021.
C. The disappearance of 18 drums of electrical cables worth GHS10.4 million from the technical storehouse of TOR, discovered in April 2021.
D. The disappearance of product (LPG) belonging to a client between 2012 and 2015, as a result of which TOR was indebted to the client to the tune of USD4.8 million, as confirmed by an Ernst and Young audit.
E. The reasons why funds given by the Ministry of Finance for the payment of TOR’s debt to a project consulting firm of TOR, did not get paid to them until a garnishee order was placed on the company’s account in July 2021.
F. Issuance of unauthorised letter admitting debt liability to TOR with attendant computation of interest without the approval of IMC.
G. Loss of naphtha to a BDC client.