The Sierra Leone Petroleum Regulatory Agency (PRA), has hosted a delegation from the Ghanaian Petroleum Authority in order to share experiences in terms of structures, processes, and procedures in the downstream sector of both countries.
They discussed issues with the regulatory framework in the sector like the existing pricing formula, where both countries confirmed operating in a deregulatory market which means their respective Governments do not determine pump prices.
The Executive Chairman for PRA, Dr. Brima Baluwa Koroma, says since he took up office in 2018 to date, with the support of the current Government, a lot of gains have been made in the sector in terms of expansion, and revenue generation.
He says his development aspiration and policy objective is to open up the sector and restore fairness among players and investors in the sector. he says government wants to improve on petroleum infrastructure in Sierra Leone, and also to get strategic storage of petroleum product, which according to himn, can be achieve with the backing of the Regulatory Act, that is ready for a review.
He says they received a request from the Ghanaian Regulatory Agency sometime back to visit Sierra Leone, “which is a big honour to the people of Sierra Leone. We want to strengthen the relationship between PRA and Ghana Petroleum Authority in terms of collaboration and strategic partnership,” he expressed.
The Chief Executive of the Petroleum Authority in Ghana, Dr. Mustapha Abdul Hamid, says the work of PRA over the last three years is remarkable. He says they came mainly to offer assistance to the PRA in order for Sierra Leone to be able to regulate the downstream sector better by crafting out a system that will ensure efficiency.
he says, “we start talking even though no MOU was signed today but I am sure that there will be a follow up visit by the PRA to Ghana may be at the event we will sign an agreement for the development of our common countries,” he encouraged.
The Ghana Oil regulatory boss says in the area of law reform everything is premised in the law pointing, “it is the law that guides us and so fortunate for us, the Director of legal Affairs at the National Petroleum Authority in Ghana is a Sierra Leonean.”
He says PRA has the ability to do better than Ghana, based on what he had read, as the country just need to fix up few issues in place, amongst which is the government’s total support to the system, which has been the bedrock of Ghana’s success in the sector over the years.
While discussing on license fees, the Ghanaian Boss says they are getting close to US$ 750,000 United States dollars for Bulk Distribution Company license, while new registration for Oil Marketing Company (OMC) is US$50,000 United States dollars, but in Sierra Leone it is totally a different ball game, as OMC are paying $2,000 United States dollars.
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