The Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) and the Petroleum Commission (PC) have agreed to collaborate to standardise oil measurement in the country.

The decision was arrived at during a meeting between Professor Alex Dodoo, Director-General of the GSA and Egbert Fabaille Jnr, the Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Petroleum Commission in Accra.

The discussions centered on ensuring compliance in the upstream petroleum fiscal metering, cooperation between the two bodies and the way forward.

The meeting followed the call by parliament to PC to work with the GSA to check the measurement of Ghana’s oil meant for export.

It followed concerns raised by some Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) about the metering system used by multinational companies producing oil in Ghana.

Prof. Dodoo has maintained that the measurement of oil meant for export cannot be left in the hands of foreigners, calling on relevant state institutions in the oil and gas industry to collaborate with the GSA to protect Ghanaian interest in the export of oil.

“Currently, we don’t have an independent way of checking what is being paid for the oil,” Prof Dodoo said.

“The GSA has the scientific competence, but we also believe that we need to talk to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) as well as the PC to be sure that when the fuel comes out, the proper levies are collected, the State makes its money and the GSA will get a small bit, and then the PC is aware,” he noted.

According to him, relying on the buyer to determine the amount of barrels of oil exported puts the country in a disadvantage position, commending Parliament for urging the PC to come out with a standardised system that will be accepted by oil and gas industry players.

Section 3 (d) (v) of the Petroleum Commission ACT 821, mandates the Commission to ensure compliance with fiscal metering requirements in petroleum production activities in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.

The PC has engaged the GSA on a number of occasions on metering related issues in pursuance of Section 37 of the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) ACT 2016, ACT 919.