Ghana: GTPCWU, IERPP Call For NPA Bill Withdrawal, Warn Of Risks To BOSTenergies

The General Transport, Chemical and Petroleum Workers Union (GTPCWU) and the Institute of Economic Research and Public Policy (IERPP) have raised concerns over Ghana’s National Petroleum Authority (NPA) Bill, 2026, warning that its passage in its current form could weaken state-owned BOST Energies Limited.

The two groups said the bill would redirect the BOST margin, which they said was critical for maintaining and expanding petroleum infrastructure. They also said the bill did not expressly provide for strategic storage depots to be managed by BOST Energies on behalf of the government.

GTPCWU raised its concerns in a letter to the chairperson of Parliament’s Energy Committee, seen by Energy News Africa, while IERPP outlined its concerns at a news conference on Wednesday addressed by its Executive Director, Professor Isaac Boadi.

In the letter signed by GTPCWU General Secretary Fuseini Iddrisu, the union said the bill would allow the regulator to license multiple depot network operators whenever it deemed appropriate, replacing the current arrangement of a single licensed operator.

GTPCWU said previous NPA legislation expressly recognised the importance of strategic petroleum infrastructure by requiring the minister to designate a network of strategic storage depots to be managed by BOST Energies, or another body, on behalf of the government.

“That provision was not a technicality; it was Parliament’s clear and deliberate acknowledgment that BOST is the principal institution entrusted with safeguarding Ghana’s strategic petroleum reserves and national fuel security,” the union said.

The union described the omission as a serious institutional gap, warning that leaving it uncorrected could create legal uncertainty over responsibility for the country’s strategic reserves, undermine investor confidence and put jobs, technical expertise and institutional knowledge at risk.

GTPCWU urged Parliament to amend the bill before its passage to expressly recognise BOST Energies as the institution responsible for managing Ghana’s strategic petroleum reserves on behalf of the government.

It also called for the BOST margin to be preserved for the operation, maintenance, rehabilitation and expansion of BOST’s strategic petroleum infrastructure, saying the company should retain adequate and sustainable resources to carry out its strategic role.

IERPP said it was not opposed to strong regulation of Ghana’s downstream petroleum sector and that no state institution should be exempt from proper oversight. Its concern, it said, was that the bill could make BOST Energies responsible for national fuel security while removing some of the operational and financial tools needed to fulfill that role.

The institute questioned how BOST Energies could remain financially sustainable if competing depots were licensed and commercially attractive business was drawn away from its network while it continued to bear the cost of maintaining infrastructure on which the country relies.

“This is not a technical or bureaucratic quibble; it goes to the heart of national fuel security and the protection of a public asset,” IERPP said.

The institute said Ghana should avoid a situation in which private operators benefit from profitable parts of the petroleum logistics chain while BOST Energies carries the cost of national obligations with fewer resources to meet them.

IERPP called for the withdrawal and review of the NPA Bill, 2026, to allow for comprehensive stakeholder consultations and redrafting, citing risks to BOST Energies’ operational independence, financial sustainability and ability to safeguard Ghana’s strategic fuel security.

It also called for BOST Energies to remain the principal institution responsible for managing the country’s strategic reserves, with clear authority over procurement, storage, rotation, release and replenishment.

The institute further called for dedicated and reliable funding for strategic reserves and infrastructure, saying BOST’s commercial resources should not be unnecessarily tied up financing a national security obligation.

It said the BOST margin should be appropriately repurposed to support strategic reserves and critical infrastructure, including the development and expansion of new depots.