Why some Filling Stations May still Not Have Petrol

The Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) says fuel service stations across the country which have still not been supplied with fuel products may be owing the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) which in turn owes it. Head of Public Relations, Mrs Abba Lokko, in a telephone interview said, �it is possible those fuel stations are owing the marketing companies,� for which reason they have not been supplied. Besides, she said it was the OMC�s which determined the service stations where to distribute the products they lifted from the refinery and not TOR. Mrs Lokko said about four million litres of petrol was on Sunday lifted from TOR for supply by the OMCs, adding that a bulk supplier which imported finished products had also been supplying OMCs to top up quantity. She said some of the OMCs making arrangements to settle their debts, �Some have come to see us and have been given time to repay,� she added. Mrs. Lokko declined to name the OMCs owing the TOR, saying �it will be unethical to give their names� but added that TOR would be compelled to publish the names if they failed to settle the debt within the given time frame. To prevent further debt accumulation, she said, TOR had, for the past three months, been demanding upfront payment form the OMCs before being allowed to load the products. As a result of the new measure she said, some OMCs had �eliminated themselves because they do not have the financial resources to pay upfront.� Others, she said, did not owe but did not have the means to pay upfront. Meanwhile, the situation at fuel service stations in the Accra Metropolis which ran out of petrol over the weekend, is gradually improving with some of them receiving supplies.