BOST under forensic audit

BOST under forensic audit

Mr. John-Peter Amewu During Vetting 

 The Government of Ghana through the Energy Ministry has called for a forensic audit into the activities of the Bulk Oil Storage and Transport Company (BOST) between the year 2013 to 2018.

According to the sector minister Mr John-Peter Amewu, a committee set up by the presidency, recently submitted its report which revealed the poor financial management by the company due to  indiscipline and recklessness.

The report also captured the unprofitable relationship between BOST and the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) from  2015 and 2016.

In a press briefing moderated by Mr. kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the Minister Designate for the Information Ministry, Mr Amewu briefed the press that per the arrangement, BOST after procuring its own crude oil, shipped it to the refinery for processing into  gasoline, gas oil and LPG for sale at both  domestic and export markets.

He said the tolling of US$5.5 per metric tonne (M/T) was too expensive when compared to the international average tolling fee of US$3.5 per MT beside, was also higher than normal imported premium of crude oil.

The Energy Minister said the price for  the crude oil possession with all expenses put together in such procurements never benefited the state.

He stated that the unprofitable arrangemant between the two stae agencies has incurred losses from the transaction.

Again the  alliance between BOST and TOR also rendered a situation by which traders dealing with BOST were deducting some of TOR’S old debts from proceeds of the exports undertaken by BOST during the period.

Moreover, Mr. Amewu said, the institute recorded trade losses from under-recoveries that contributed to payment agreements with other traders like Trafigura which were in excess of  BOST’S capacity to sell to the market.

This resulted in losses for BOST over time as prices dropped  because it always held high stocks  in its storage, creating under-recoveries.


He said the Standard Chartered Bank recieved about 60 per cent of the funds from BOST margin as repayment of the  loan, in addition to that, it was using part of its trade receivable to fund its daily operations.