Our Regulator for today is the National Petroleum Authority (“NPA”). NPA is governed by the National Petroleum Authority Act 2005 (Act 691) (the “Act”) and it is responsible for regulating, overseeing and monitoring activities in the downstream petroleum industry.
The industries that are required to register with NPA are all downstream petroleum companies who operate any of the following activities:
- Importation of petroleum products
- Exportation of petroleum products
- Processing and Refining of petroleum products
- Storage and distribution of petroleum Products
- Marketing and sale of petroleum products
- Bulk transportation of petroleum products
These petroleum products include crude oil, gasoline, diesel, liquefied petroleum gas and kerosene. The NPA is mandated by the Act to register the above industries and they cannot commence business unless they have been granted a licence for that purpose. The licence is valid for the period specified on it and may be renewed upon satisfying all the conditions for renewal.
Failure to register with and obtain a licence from the NPA before commencing business is an offence punishable by a term of imprisonment of not more than 10 years or a fine of at least GHS 600,000 or both.
It is important to note that the Act also regulates the pricing of petroleum and petroleum products and a petroleum service provider can not go above the prescribed petroleum pricing .
