The Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company Limited, (BOST) has revived its fuel depot at Bolgatanga.
Speaking with Emmanuel Aboagye-Wiafe on Asaase Business Wednesday, Marlick Adjei, the corporate communications and external affairs manager at BOST said, “The facility is ready and has been operating for the past seven days serving the Northern Regions and sending products for exports into the hinterlands; Burkina Faso and the other landlocked countries. So it’s fully operational now.”
Adjei added, “…The pipeline linking Buipe to Bolgatanga is about 261km and due to some faults and separations we had to commit some huge funds to make sure that it comes back to work. This was enhanced when the BOST margin was increased from three pesewas per litre to six pesewas last year. We gave the assurance to the CSOs and the public that we were going to be judicious in the utilisation of the money in reviving all our defunct assets and this is but one of many.
He said, “…With the prudent management that is currently ongoing at BOST, it is not only the Bolga depot which is back, but the pipeline linking Buipe-Bolga depot is also back. And the one between the Tema and Akosombo depots has been fully repaired awaiting the installation of surveillance equipment to ensure that we can move petroleum products across the country cheaper than we used to.
The facility, with a capacity to hold about 46.5m litres of petroleum products, has been dormant since 2018 due to a defect in the 261km fuel pipeline linking the depot from Buipe in the Savannah Region.
The pipeline is said to receive products from Accra via the Volta Lake through the Akosombo depot.
The revival of the Bolgatanga depot is expected to boost Ghana’s quest to serve as a hub for petroleum products in the sub-region.
Fuel exports
In October 2020, Edwin Provencal, managing director of the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company Ltd (BOST), said the company will begin exporting fuel to Burkina Faso and Mali by 1 November that year.
Speaking on the Energy 101 programme on Asaase Radio on Monday (19 October 2020), Provencal said: “I’m about to execute my first export since 2013. By 1 November my first export would have happened to Burkina Faso and Mali.
“So guess what that will do for Ghana in terms of forex? Because when we sell to these countries we get dollars.”
Provencal said this would mean that fuel tankers do not have to drive to Accra to lift fuel, thereby destroying road surfaces and putting health and safety at risk.
“Our vision is to be the best and the number one fuel and logistics provider in West Africa within the next five years,” he said. “I believe that within the next five years we will be number one.”
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