He asked consumers to consider it shared responsibilities in helping the authority fight fuel contamination by making use of the complaints platform to get their grievances across.

“We recommend that such cases are reported to the NPA within 48 hours for prompt investigation by contacting any of our regional offices across the country,” he said.

Mr Ubeidalah stated this at a capacity-building workshop for journalists in the Upper West Region on petroleum pricing formula, post deregulation and fuel quality at Wa on Wednesday.

He stated that contaminated fuel could damage engines of vehicles and could cause them to malfunction, and said the consumer would incur extra cost to repair the damage.

He said fuel contamination did not only affect the quality of petroleum products, but also posed danger to the environment at large.

Mr Ubeidalah indicated that the fight against contaminated fuel would only thrive if consumers reported such cases to the appropriate authority for investigation.

He urged consumers to demand receipts at the fuel stations after purchasing the product in order for it to serve as evidence in case of any eventualities in future.

He expressed the readiness of the NPA to protect the rights of consumers and impressed on dealers in petroleum and its products to ensure they provided wholesome products for sale.

The Head of Economic Regulation at the NPA, Mr Abass Ibrahim Tasunti, explained that prices of petroleum products were heavily determined by prices on the world market which were also influenced by factors such as wars, geopolitics, natural disasters, decision by major oil producers to reduce production and pandemics.

Mr Tasunti highlighted that taxes accounted for just a minute component of fuel price and said between June, 2021 and June 2022, taxes on petroleum had been reviewed downward from GH¢2.43 to GH¢2.28 per litre to help reduce the burden on the consumer.

He said the country consumed more petroleum products than was produced locally, stressing that the fact that the country produced oil did not mean it would not be affected by price hikes.

Mr Tasunti, however, assured that although the NPA was not directly responsible for fixing petroleum prices, it would not renege on its efforts at ensuring that bulk distributing companies (BDCs) and Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) set prices in line with the prescribed petroleum pricing formula.