7 oil companies fined GH¢1.5m
Seven petroleum service providers (PSPs) have been fined a combined GH¢1.5 million by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) for engaging in illicit third-party trading of petroleum products and unlawful lifting of petroleum products.
The companies are Moari Oil Company Limited, Rodo Oil Company Limited, MBA Global Limited, Cigo Energy Limited, Torrid Global Limited, Naddif Company Limited and GAT Oil.
Advertisement
Four of them — MBA Global, Rodo Oil, Naddif Ltd and GAT Oil — have additionally been given one-month suspension from their operations.
The first infraction happened in August last year, with the rest of the illegalities being realised in November the same year.
Infractions
Oil marketing companies (OMCs) commit unlawful lifting if they convey products from an unregistered or unauthorised bulk supply point (depot), such as a tanker yard or port/harbour, without any valid documentation.
A company engaging in such unlawful activities ends up not paying taxes and other petroleum margins to the authorities.
A third-party delivery is when a petroleum product market company (PPMC) supplies products to a retail outlet or bulk consumer not registered by the NPA under the PPMC.
For instance, this will occur when OMC ‘A’ supplies a product such as diesel to the retail outlet of OMC ‘T’.
Deadlines
The NPA gave the companies 14 days to settle the fines or be suspended for three more months.
The Daily Graphic gathered that none of the companies had so far made any payments related to the fines.
All the companies suspended have been removed from the NPA’s data management system until they make good the fines.
Fines
A statement by the NPA on May 23, 2022, said while Moari Oil would pay a fine of GH¢50,000, made up of GH¢10,000 for third party supplies it engaged in and GH¢40,000 for the unlawful lifting of petroleum products, Rodo Oil would pay a GH¢350,000 fine — GH¢10,000 for engaging in third-party supplies and GH¢340,000 for the unlawful lifting of petroleum products.
The NPA also fined MBA Global GH¢85,000, covering GH¢10,000 for third-party supplies and GH¢75,000 for the unlawful lifting of petroleum products, while Cigo Energy will pay GH¢245,000 — GH¢10,000 for engaging in unauthorised third-party supplies and GH¢235,000 for the unlawful lifting of petroleum products.
“That Torrid Global pays a fine of GH¢550,000, comprising GH¢10,000 for engaging in third-party supplies and GH¢540,000 for the unlawful lifting of petroleum products,” the statement said.
The NPA said Naddif Co., which also engaged in alleged illegalities, would pay a fine of GH¢150,000, comprising GH¢10,000 for engaging in third-party supplies and GH¢140,000 for the unlawful lifting of petroleum products.
It said GAT Oil would pay a fine of GH¢120,000 — GH¢10,000 for engaging in third-party supplies and GH¢110,000 for the unlawful lifting of products.
