Mr. Hassan Tampuli
The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has banned LPG operators from discharging LPG products into their storage tanks after 6pm.
Henceforth, the petroleum downstream regulator wants LPG discharge to be done only during the day.
The regulator has also directed that LPG discharge from Bulk Road Vehicles (BRVs) would be undertaken only in the presence of personnel from Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS).
Additionally, LPG discharge using the pumps of BRVs are no longer permitted.
These were recommendations by a committee the NPA composed to carry out thorough risk assessment of all LPG outlets nationwide.
Chief Executive Officer of NPA, Mr Hassan Tampuli who made these recommendations known at the launch of 2019 Petroleum Safety Week organised by the Association of Oil Marketing Companies (AOMCs), also mentioned that LPG refilling plants have been mandated to have standby electric pumps for discharge.
He, therefore, encouraged the general public to report any non-compliant station or driver to the NPA to be dealt with in accordance with the law.
Mr Tampuli revealed that his outfit had been directed by the Ministry of Energy to extend the risk assessment to all schools with LPG installations in the country.
The first phase of the exercise, he said, would cover about 60 public secondary schools that have been identified to have such installations.
The findings would determine which interventions should be put in place to prevent any LPG related incidents/accidents in schools.
*Phasing out of reseller outlets*
As a means of raising the bar in the standard of performance of PSPs, the NPA, Mr Tampuli said, is gradually phasing out reseller outlets (gau-gau) in the country.
Currently, reseller outlets are not permitted to be located in urban areas but may be permitted in rural areas.
“We wish to inform the general public that none of these reseller outlets in the metropolitan and municipal areas are authorised by the NPA.
“We are, therefore, liaising with the security authorities to clamp down on all such reseller outlets,” he said.
Mr Tampuli advised the general public to desist from patronising the services of these unbranded and unauthorised reseller outlets since their services including product quality, offered to consumers cannot be guaranteed.
“We encourage the general public to rather patronise the over 3,000 licensed and branded retail outlets nationwide.”