Dr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid
The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has announced that it is set to drag 47 Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) to court on February 22, 2023 for Non-Payment of debts.
These are levies that the OMCs have collected on every litre of fuel sold to consumers as Primary Distributors Margin (PDM) over the years.
The authority in a statement also maintained that failure to pay the debt on the set date will result in a publication of the names of the directors behind these companies, as well as the amount owed.
NPA sanctions 30 OMCs
The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) on January 12 revoked the licenses of 30 OMCs for breaching the regulations of the industry.
Some of the OMCs were said to owed the government over ¢400 million cedis in the form of unpaid taxes by the end of 2022.
A list of the companies published by the NPA said the licenses of the “OMCs have been revoked for non-compliance with the rules and regulations of the authority on acquisition and maintenance of their licenses”.
The NPA cautioned that it will bear no liability for any loss or damage that may be suffered by any person who chooses to engage with the affected OMCs in whatever capacity.
“The General Public is hereby warned that engaging with the affected OMCs is at their own risk”, it added.
NPA goes after OMCs for owing
The NPA in September 2022 went after the directors and shareholders of some 45 Oil Marketing Companies (OMC) over debts running into more than ₵400 million.
These were margins and other levies that have been collected by the OMCs since 2021, but have failed to pay the monies to the NPA.
¢68 million cedis out of the debt was coming from the Primary Distribution Margin Fund
These monies were paid by consumers at the pumps, and were supposed to be repaid to the regulator at the end of every operational month.
Proposed actions by NPA
The NPA stated that these companies had up until the end of September 2022 to settle these debts.
The authority warned that failure to settle these debts, will result in the publishing of names of the directors and shareholders of these companies in the national dailies.
It had also indicated that it will not hesitate to take the necessary legal against the directors of these firms as an additional action.
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