By The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has revoked the licenses of 13 Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) due to their failure to settle substantial debts owed to industry regulators, including the NPA, Ghana Revenue Authority, and the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company.
The outstanding amount exceeds GH₵200 million. These funds, collected as levies and margins on petroleum products sold, were not remitted to the relevant state institutions.
Riverson Oppong, Chief Executive of the Association of Oil Marketing Companies, highlighted the issue in an interview with journalists. He urged the NPA to pursue action against the companies’ directors and emphasized the need for rigorous oversight in the industry to ensure compliance with regulations.
“The details of the directors of these companies are with the NPA. Before any company is issued a licence 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 revealed that some of the debts appear to be deliberately accumulated, as some directors of the indebted OMCs are also managing 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 measures have been implemented to prevent the accumulation of such debts in the future.
