The Deputy Managing Director of BOSTEnergies Limited, Ghana’s state-owned strategic petroleum stockholding company, Salifu Nat Acheampong, has firmly rejected claims by some players in the downstream petroleum sector that the company has strayed from its core mandate by engaging in fuel trading.
Speaking on the final day of the two-day 7th Ghana International Petroleum Conference (GHiPCON) in Accra on Friday, Mr. Acheampong said BOSTEnergies’ participation in commercial fuel transactions forms an integral part of its stock management strategy and should not be misconstrued as a departure from its statutory responsibilities.
He explained that the company periodically releases existing fuel stocks onto the market to create storage capacity for fresh supplies, a routine operational process that has been wrongly interpreted by some industry stakeholders as evidence that BOSTEnergies has shifted its focus from maintaining Ghana’s strategic petroleum reserves.
“It appears some sort of alliance has been forged against a state-owned institution like BOSTEnergies,” Mr. Acheampong remarked while responding to concerns raised during the conference.
He stressed that BOSTEnergies was established to safeguard Ghana’s strategic petroleum reserves, arguing that maintaining national control over such reserves is essential for energy security and national resilience.
Drawing an international comparison, Mr. Acheampong cited Iran as an example, suggesting that the country’s ability to sustain its operations would have been significantly weakened had it entrusted all of its strategic petroleum reserves to private sector operators.
“Just imagine if Iran had entrusted all its strategic petroleum reserves to private entities. Do you think Iran would have been able to defend itself?” he asked.
Mr. Acheampong reiterated that BOSTEnergies remains fully committed to its statutory mandate of maintaining Ghana’s strategic fuel reserves while adopting commercially viable practices to ensure the institution’s financial sustainability.
He called on industry stakeholders to view the company’s commercial activities within the broader context of enhancing Ghana’s long-term energy security and strengthening the sustainability of the state-owned institution, rather than interpreting them as a deviation from its legal mandate.
