As fuel prices continue to rise at the pumps, the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) says the situation will not change until institutions like the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) and the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company Limited run at full capacity.

According to COPEC, once the entities commence operations, they should be able to help cushion Ghanaians when fuel prices on the global market go up.

Beyond reviewing a number of petroleum taxes and levies COPEC described as a nuisance, Duncan Amoah, the Executive Secretary of the chamber, said these two institutions remain the only safety nets that can save consumers from the impact of constant increments in fuel prices.

“We are saying that the safety net that should prevent these rampant increases are all down, and we are impressing on the authorities to work hard to revamp the refinery and redirect and refocus the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation to hold minimum stocks for the country such that when world market prices are behaving turbulent or funny we would have some fall back stocks that would also be able to maintain prices for Ghanaians.”

TOR, the country’s only refinery, has not been operational for a while due to several challenges while BOST which stocks up petroleum reserves as part of its mandates continues to struggle.

Fuel prices at the pumps shot up from GHS6.05 to GHS6.23 over the weekend, an increase that many consumers have expressed concerns over.

On the other hand, oil prices on the world market currently sell at over 73 dollars a barrel from about 60 dollars a barrel in March 2021.

The implementation of some new taxes introduced in the 2021 budget statement, from the 1st of May 2021, saw fuel prices increase from GHS5.45 to GHS6.5.