The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has revoked the licenses of 13 Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs).
It follows the inability of the firms to settle debts owed industry regulators like the NPA, Ghana Revenue Authority and the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company.
The funds are said to be running into more than US$200 million.
These are monies that have been collected as levies, and margins on petroleum products sold, but the companies have failed to remit the funds to the appropriate state institutions.
The Chief Executive of the Association of Oil Marketing Companies, Riverson Oppong who disclosed this to Joy Business in an interview encouraged the NPA to go after the directors of the companies.
He cautioned that the industry is a sensitive one that must be scrutinized to ensure that all parties obey the rules and regulations.
"The details of the directors of these companies are with the NPA. Before any company is issued a license the NPA demands the names of the directors of the company. These names should be made public”, he said stressing that such an action will remove bad operators from the industry.
He disclosed that some of the debts are deliberately accrued since some of the directors of the OMCs in debt are running other OMCs in the industry.
“These same directors who established the OMCs and have accrued this debts do have other OMCs running in their names. The question is why would the directors of the companies in debt have other OMCs in the system run in their names”, he queried.
Mr. Oppong announced that there are measures put in place to avoid such debts from rising.
Credit: Joy Business