Management of the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation (BOST) Company Limited, has paid an amount of $585 million of its $624 million trade debt.
The company inherited the debt due to the accumulation of Internally Generated Funds for the past four years.
The trade debt was generated due to the company’s inability to pay its trading partners that supplied petroleum products.
Managing Director of BOST, Edwin Alfred Provencal, announced at the Information Minister’s briefing on Sunday, September 26, 2021, that the company’s trade debt currently stands at $39 million.
He stated that the government paid 27 per cent of the $585 million and the company also paid 73 per cent of the amount via Internally Generated Funds (IGF).
BOST has also increased its revenue earning properties from 17 per cent to 75 per cent within the time frame of two years due to the company’s judicious management of its structures and resources.
The company has also restarted the exportation of its petroleum products to non-coastal countries like Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali with the aid of the Energy Ministry and the National Petroleum Authority.
BOST has also saved the country from a loss of $26 million when a forensic audit was conducted into a $37 million claim made by eight Bulk Distribution Companies. The money was later reduced to $11 million after the audit.
Alfred Provencal said that BOST would receive pipes and accessories it purchased since 2011 but could not transport them to the country at that time.
“The 12 inches pipes would en-route to Ghana from Houston, USA, by November this year, which would improve the operational efficiency of distribution of petroleum products and reduce the cost of transporting the products by 35 per centâ€, Alfred Provencal added.
He mentioned that the company's focus currently was to enhance its operational efficiency and grow its business interest, to pay dividends to its shareholders.
BOST, which has the right of developing and maintaining a national network of bulk storage and transportation of petroleum products, at the moment has six petroleum depots, and 51 storage tanks carrying 425,000 cubic metres of petroleum products.
It also has 361 kilometres of pipelines, four barges, a tugboat, and a booster station.