Ghana’s National Petroleum Authority (NPA) said on Monday its priority is to ensure fuel supplies remain available nationwide, as the government monitors global oil prices and absorbs an estimated GHS 520 million ($X million) revenue shortfall from a 2-cedi reduction in fuel prices this month.
Abbas Ibrahim Tasunti, the NPA’s Director of Economic Regulation and Planning, said the regulator’s mandate is to ensure transparent and fair pricing while maintaining a steady supply of petroleum products across the country.
“Our major concern is to ensure that the product is available in the first place before we even talk about the price of the product,” Tasunti said in an interview with TV3 monitored by this publication.
Tasunti said the NPA seeks to ensure that importers and refiners recover their costs so they can continue supplying the domestic market.
“If the refinery is to refine, it should be able to cover its costs so it can continue to buy the product and supply it to us,” he said.
He said the NPA implements government pricing directives and will continue to monitor the market to ensure petroleum products are priced fairly while remaining available across the country.
“If we don’t have the product, price is not an issue,” Tasunti said. “This is not peculiar to Ghana. Every country faces this challenge.”
His comments come as the government monitors Brent crude prices after the decline in global oil prices slowed following April.
Earlier this week, government officials said the recent 2-cedi reduction in fuel prices would reduce state revenue by more than GHS 520 million this month.
Tasunti said the NPA’s overriding objective is to ensure consumers have reliable access to fuel.
“Our focus is to make sure consumers always have products to power their economy,” he said.
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