The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has revoked the licenses of 13 Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) due to their failure to settle substantial debts owed to industry regulators, including the NPA, Ghana Revenue Authority, and the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company. These debts, exceeding GH₵200 million, are tied to levies and margins collected on petroleum products but not remitted to the appropriate state institutions.
Riverson Oppong, Chief Executive of the Association of Oil Marketing Companies, revealed this information in an interview with Joy Business. He urged the NPA to hold the directors of these companies accountable, emphasizing the importance of maintaining strict adherence to industry rules and regulations.
Oppong suggested that the NPA should make the details of the directors public to weed out bad operators from the industry. He also noted that some of these debts appear to be deliberately accrued, as directors of indebted OMCs are still operating other companies in the sector.
He questioned why directors of companies with outstanding debts are allowed to run other OMCs under their names and assured that measures are being implemented to prevent such debts from accumulating in the future.