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The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has debunked allegations levelled against it by the Member of Parliament for the Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam Constituency that the authority is acting with impunity and engaging in illegalities.
Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson had accused the NPA for using unlawful means to receive revenues through the collection of the Unified Petroleum Price Fund (UPPF), BULK OIL Storage and Transportation (BOST) and Fuel Marking Margins.
Following this, the NPA in a statement signed by its Corporate Affairs Department indicated that their core mandate of collecting, charging or receiving of revenue with respect to the UPPF, BOST and the Fuel Marketing Margins is “derived from the National Petroleum Authority (Prescribed Petroleum Pricing Formula), Regulations 2012, Legislature Instrument (LI) 2186,” passed by parliament.
To wit, NPA is acting legally as specified in the Prescribed Petroleum Pricing Formula Regulations 2012, LI 2186 and that the UPPF, BOST and Fuel Marking Margins charged in the price buildup are not illegal charges as asserted by Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson.
It explained further that “the UPPF Margin is a margin incorporated in the price buildup of petroleum products to compensate transporters who move petroleum products from the depots to the retail outlets across the country and to ensure that we have equal pricing of petroleum products in the country irrespective of the geographical location”
“The BOST Margin is a margin incorporated in the buildup of petroleum prices used to cover the cost of maintenance and operations of BOST depots across the nation and to undertake its expansion programs of the depots [this margin is collected by BOST Co. Limited and not NPA]’’
‘’The Fuel Marking Margin is also a margin incorporated into the price buildup of petroleum products to pay for the marking of the products to prevent tax revenue loss, smuggling and adulteration of petroleum products’’ the statement said.
They however emphasized that, the margins are purely based on the cost of undertaking the prescribed activities and not for any other reason.
To buttress the point, they cited 2021’s margin as a periodic increment of the cost of operations in the activities since 2009.
It again noted that the regulations 9 to 13 of the LI 2186 determines how to review the prescribed petroleum pricing formula, which states that it shall include the margins and the authority shall also indicate the margins to take care of the intended costs accordingly.
‘’It is without doubt that the absence of these margins in the price buildup would have hindered the achievement of the objectives for which these margins were introduced into the prescribed petroleum pricing formula. For example, uniform pricing of petroleum products did not exist until the introduction of the UPPF Margin in the 1990s” it added.
