The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has appealed to stakeholders in the petroleum downstream sector, particularly the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Marketers Association to reassess their opposition to the newly introduced Cylinder Recirculation Model.

The Chief Executive of the NPA, Dr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid who made the appeal observed that most countries in the West African sub region have adopted the model. He added that it is regarded as the best distribution policy so far for domestic use of LPG.

Speaking at this year's Ghana International Petroleum Conference (GhIPCON) in Accra, Dr. Abdul-Hamid pleaded with stakeholders in the energy sector to help and support the implementation of the model to make it a success.

“I urge you to reassess your opposition to the Cylinder Recirculation Model because we have to move with the modern times and Ghana cannot be left out. When you look around us. All the West African nations surrounding us, Togo, Burkina Faso, Benin and others. They are all adopting the Cylinder Recirculation Model as the safest way of distributing LPG to homes so we as a country must move with the time”, he stressed.

He argued that the model has not only been proven to be effective but has shown to also create jobs.

“It will create a lot of job opportunities for our teeming youth rather than the filling station concept”, he argued.

He pointed out that it is important to start looking at opportunities along the value chain in the distribution and circulation channels.

Under Cylinder Recirculation Model, residents of Accra and other selected parts of the country dod not have to own a cylinder to use LPG for domestic and commercial activities. Filled LPG cylinders will be kept at exchange points for customers to pay for the content and pick up filled cylinders after registering with the National Identity Card.  

However, after the commencement of the policy, it has received push back from some stakeholders.

Minister of State at the Ministry of Energy, Herbert Krappa told Journalists that government will continue to engage in other to get everyone on board. He said that input from dealers will help shape the policy better.

This year’s GHIPCON was under the theme, “Petroleum downstream; building a future for growth, efficiency and sustainability”.