The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has warned owners of tanker trucks that it would ban their vehicles from carrying petroleum products if they are involved in the diversion or tampering of the products.

The NPA says, although there is a monitoring system to check such illegal activities, it will institute real-time monitoring to further check the trend.

These concerns come after fire broke out at Kaase in the Ashanti Region when a tanker driver and a tricycle rider were siphoning fuel from a tanker in January 2022.

The fire swept through makeshift structures used as homes by some squatters and also caused damage to other properties.

Although these issues are being investigated, Chief Executive Officer of the NPA, Dr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid says the Authority will crack the whip on tanker owners violating the laws.

“The loading of the products are done with the aid of technology but when tanker owners leave the BOST depot, instead of them going straight to wherever they are supposed to offload the product, they will go to certain unauthorised yards where they go and tamper with the seal of the Bulk Road Vehicles and siphon fuel. So now, we have to do real-time monitoring and by that action, immediately we see that a tanker truck is diverting, we will call the nearest police where it is.”

Dr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid has said his primary objective is to ensure that rules and regulations are adhered to by various players in the petroleum downstream industry.

According to him, that is the only way the sector will achieve its vision, whilst players enjoy the full benefits of the industry.

The illegal activity, which is done through depots mainly in Tema and Takoradi, is one of the major challenges affecting the petroleum sector.

The trend is said to be a syndicate between black marketers and border officials.

Ghana is said to have lost $200 million in both 2016 and 2017 as a result of the smuggling of fuel into the country, the National Petroleum Authority revealed.

In the past, the Authority in collaboration with National Security and the Ghana Armed Forces have arrested persons suspected to be part of a cartel smuggling petroleum products.