The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has revoked the licenses of 13 Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) due to their failure to settle debts totalling more than GHC200 million owed to key industry regulators, including the NPA, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), and the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company (BOST).
These debts represent levies and margins collected on petroleum products sold by the companies, which were not remitted to the appropriate state institutions as required.
Speaking in an interview with Joy Business, Riverson Oppong, Chief Executive of the Association of Oil Marketing Companies, confirmed the action by the NPA and urged the authority to take further steps to hold the directors of these companies accountable.
“The details of the directors are already with the NPA. Before any company receives a license, the directors’ names are submitted. Making these names public will help weed out bad operators from the industry,” Mr. Oppong emphasized.
He further disclosed that some of the debts appear to be deliberately accumulated, with certain directors of the indebted OMCs also managing other OMCs in the sector. “These same directors, who have allowed their companies to accrue debt, are running other OMCs. The question is why would they be allowed to continue operating multiple companies under their names?” he questioned.
To address the issue, Mr. Oppong noted that measures have been put in place to prevent such debts from escalating in the future, ensuring better compliance within the petroleum sector.