BOST depot shutdown won’t affect production
The temporary shutdown of the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation (BOST) depot at Buipe in the Central Gonja District of the Northern Region will not affect the supply of fuel to the three regions and parts of Brong Ahafo.
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Mr Fred Ayarkwa, the Managing Director of the depot, made this known to journalists from the Brong Ahafo Region at Buipe during a familiarisation tour of the depot last Friday
He said the shutdown was to make way for the full automation of the system to ensure efficiency.
He stated that the depot was shut down in December, 2013 for upgrading works and would start full operation in September.
Shutdown
He, therefore, assured the public that the shutdown would not affect delivery of petroleum products by BOST, especially petrol to the three northern regions and parts of Brong Ahafo.
The Buipe depot is responsible for the supply of petroleum products to the three regions of the north and parts of Brong Ahafo.
Mr Ayarkwa debunked the assertion that the recent nationwide shortage of petrol, which hit the three regions of the north more than other areas, was as a result of the temporary shutdown of the Buipe depot.
He said BOST lifted fuel from the Tema Port by road and from Akosombo by the Volta Lake to Buipe .
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He stated that the depot was relying on the Bulk Road Vehicles ( BRVs) to supply fuel to its operational areas by road from the Tema port while the necessary measures had been put in place to check the siphoning and adulteration of petroleum products.
According to Mr Ayarkwa, for now the other means for the transportation of fuel to the depot through the barges from Akosombo on the Volta Lake to the Buipe depot is on hold due to the upgrading works at the depot.
Mr Ayarkwa said the last time the depot operated was in December 2013, adding that the Buipe depot is not the only station that BOST had in the country and, therefore, adequate measures had been put in place to ensure that there was fuel in its operational areas in the north.
Background
He said the Buipe depot, when it is in full operation, supplies 800,000 litres of diesel and 700,000 litres of petrol per day to the three northern regions and part of Brong Ahafo.
Mr Ayarkwa stated that the Buipe depot had the capacity to store 50million litres of petroleum products.
The depot manager said the demand for petrol in its operational areas had increased marginally within the last two years and the three regions of the northern had not experienced any shortage of fuel, especially petrol, since it started operations in 1991.
Among the areas visited during the tour were the control room, the three depots, the pipelines for the receiving and delivery of petroleum products to the north, the Buipe port, Debre, where the barges are docked for maintenance and the Savelugu booster station, where the control and monitoring of fuel is done.