The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has urged motorists to stop buying petroleum products from unapproved retail outlets,  such as table tops.

According to the NPA, such products, which are smuggled into the country through unauthorised routes, mainly from Togo, are adulterated and can damage their vehicles.

The petroleum products are filled in gallons and conveyed mostly on motorbikes to their Ghanaian customers, who in turn fill the fuel in bottles for onward sale on table tops.

The Volta Regional Manager of NPA, Godwin Yaw Konu, who made the call at a media engagement in Ho, said the NPA could not guarantee the quality of such petroleum products.

Therefore, he stressed in case of damage to vehicles as a result of the use of such unapproved  products, the NPA could not help the affected motorists to seek redress.

He urged motorists to buy petroleum products only from approved retail outlets.

As a proactive step, Mr. Konu indicated that the NPA had, in collaboration with the security agencies, embarked upon swoops in the Ketu South and Ketu North constituencies in the Volta Region and arrested some of the smugglers.

Besides, he said, a delegation from the NPA led by a Deputy Chief Executive had visited Togo and held discussions with the authorities responsible for petroleum products and security to agree on a collaborative effort to confront the smuggling of petroleum products to Ghana.

The media engagement organised by the Communications Department was to highlight NPA's activities in the petroleum downstream industry and respond to industry-related questions from the media.

In his presentation, the Head of Planning of NPA, Dominic Aboagye, said  80% of the country's fuel consumption was dependent on import.

He said local refining of crude oil by Akwaaba Oil Refinery and the Platon refinery were supporting the local market and indicated the completion of the Sentuo refinery, also a privately owned company, which would generate about 100,000 metric tonnes of fuel per day at full capacity, would greatly reduce the country's dependency on foreign imports .

In a welcome address on behalf of the NPA Chief Executive, Dr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, the Director of Economic Regulation and Planning, Madam Alpha Welbeck said the focus of this year's education was on the security of the supply of petroleum products and the requirements for siting filling stations.

In her remarks, the Director of Corporate Affairs of NPA, Maria Edith Oquaye urged the media to get in touch with the Authority for information and clarification on issues related to the petroleum downstream petroleum industry to provide accurate information to the public.