Experts call for reduction of sulphur content in fuel

Panelists on GBC’s Current Affairs Programme, ‘FOCUS’, have all agreed that there is the need to reduce the sulphur content in fuel to the barest minimum.
 
The Ghana Standards Authority recently reduced the allowable sulphur contents in diesel from 3000 ppm to 500 ppm with effect from next January.
 
This follows a public outcry after a Swiss NGO, Public Eye did a research which showed that multi-national companies are supplying Ghana and other African countries with diesel containing sulphur, sometimes one thousand times the limits allowed in Europe and USA.

A Standards Officer at the Ghana Standards Authority, Pentrice Macmillan said there has been a lot of improvement in the quality of fuel imported into the country over the years.

The Head of Programmes at the African Centre for Energy Policy, ACEP, Seji Saji questioned the rationale for importing high sulphur fuel from countries which have low sulphur requirements nationally.

The Environmental Officer at the EPA, Emmanuel Appoh disclosed that West African countries have agreed to retrofit their local refineries which will produce 50 ppm diesel by 2020.

The CEO of Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributing Companies, Senyo Hosi said as importers, they are prepared to bring in low sulphur products. 
According to him, TOR has been the biggest challenge since it is not ready to produce fuel to meet the desired standards.

For his part, the Head of Research at the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers, Ghana, COPEC, Thomas Tsoekeku insisted that the new standard of 50 ppm is still high. 
He is asking government to invest the needed amount in TOR so that it can produce 10 ppm diesel.

Those were the views of panelists on our Current Affairs programme, FOCUS which looked at the quality of fuel imported into Ghana.

GBC