The Minister for Energy and Green Transition, John Jinapor has disclosed plans to constitute a stakeholder committee to undertake a comprehensive reform of the downstream petroleum sector.

The move is to ensure that the industry supplies enough fuel to meet the growing demand of the product.

Speaking at the first downstream dialogue by the Chamber of Oil Marketing Companies, Mr. Jinapor stressed the need for innovative ideas to strengthen the sector.

He assured that the committee will review some key policies and prescribe roadmaps for resolving challenges with pricing regulation.

“It is therefore imperative that, we look at innovative reforms that will enhance the overall sector performance and lead to sustained fuel supply at affordable and more stable prices to the people of Ghana, while contributing immensely to economic resilience and growth”, he said.

Mr. Jinapor explained that the idea of forming committees will provide the opportunity for engagements and collaborations.  

“The government, through the Ministry of Energy is committed to extensive consultation and collaboration with its sector agencies and petroleum service providers, to improve service delivery in the petroleum downstream sector”, he said.

He explained that the consultations will consider and deliberate on key interventions such as the promulgation of a downstream law, a review of the margins, taxes and levies in the Price Build Up (PBU) of petroleum products, and diversification of petroleum products supply sources. He Mr. Jinapor added that the engagement will also look at implementation of a cost-reflective tariff framework, development of a low carbon fuel market scheme, and the modernization of the state-owned refinery through strategic partnership

Speaking at the same event, acting Chief Executive for the National Petroleum Authority, Godwin Eduzdi Tamakloe disclosed plans to let players use automation machines at some selected fuel outlets to dispense fuel as part of the government’s 24 hour economy policy.

The dialogue was organized under the theme: “Ghana's downstream oil and gas sector; Challenges and Opportunities”. It is aimed at bringing out some challenges faced by industry players and find a solution to deal with it.