Ghana's Energy Sector, Oil and Gas News

The new board of the Ghana Oil Company (GOIL) intends to increase the company’s market share from 18 per cent to about 30 per cent by 2020.

This forms part of its plans of making GOIL the major driver and the market leader in the oil marketing business in the country.

The board chairman, Mr Peter Kwamena Bartels, speaking in an interview with the GRAPHIC BUSINESS on the sidelines of the company’s annual general meeting, said it wanted to control the market and the prices of petroleum products on the market.

“We want to control the market and control the prices of the various products and if we are able to get it at a low price and sell it at a low price, it will force all the other Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) to also reduce their prices, and this will benefit the end-users,” he stated.

Mr Kwamena Bartels also pointed out that the board was committed to ensuring the completion of viable projects that were commenced by the outgoing board.

Notable among them, he said, was the construction of the bitumen plant which is expected to make access to bitumen by road contractors in the country easier.

“We will continue with the plan of the outgoing board to set up a bitumen plant. It is a fantastic idea and it is one that we are going to ensure that we put in place,” he said.

Bitumen plant construction

The Managing Director of GOIL, Mr Patrick Akorli, also told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS that the company had already acquired the land at Tema for the construction of the bitumen plant which would commence soon in the coming months.

He said the project, which is expected to be completed in 18 months’ time, would cost the company about US$20 million.

He was, however, confident that it was a good investment, stating that “a lot of bitumen we use here are imported which makes it very expensive so producing it here locally will offer a cheaper option to road contractors”.

The managing director also disclosed the company’s plan of entering the West African Markets starting with Sierra Leone and Liberia.

2016 performance

The company has approved the payment of a dividend of GH¢0.025 per share, amounting to GH¢9.8 million, after an impressive performance in 2016.

The outgoing Board Chairman, Professor Asomaning, said it was able to achieve 95.8 per cent of its fuel sales in spite of the tight competition in the market.

Despite a fall of about 5.6 per cent in national consumption of fuel products, he said its fuel sales increased by 9.8 per cent.

Its Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) sales also grew by 30 per cent, while its lubricants sales also improved by 11 per cent.

The company’s profit after tax also increased from GH¢22.2 million in 2015 to GH¢35.25 million, representing a 58.73 per cent increase, with its turnover also increasing from GH¢2.1 billion to GH¢2.6 billion, representing an increase of 26.95 per cent.

Under the period under review, the company also contributed GH¢617.1 million, GH¢14.7 million and GH¢6million as customs duties and levies, income tax and dividend payment, respectively.