The total value of petroleum products imported into the country increased by 84.32 per cent, reflecting a year-on-year rise from US$366.15 million in Q2 2020 to US$674.90 million in Q2 2021.
This is partly attributed to the improvement in demand or consumption of petroleum products during the period under review maintained by an increase in fuel consuming sectors of the economy. Typically, these sectors include the transport, the aviation sectors and the ports.
For instance, given available data, international passenger arrivals as of May 2021 surged to 43,376 compared with only 775 in May 2020. The pace of economic activity at the country’s two main harbours (Tema and Takoradi), as measured by container traffic for imports and exports rose to 64,085 in May 2021, up from 47,196 for same period in 2020.
Furthermore, the continuous expansion in economic activities and in particular, the easing of Covid-19 restrictions which were in place the previous year as well increased overall trade in goods and services, accounted for this increase.
According to the Bank of Ghana Statistical bulletin, the value of crude oil imports declined on a year-on-year basis, registering a 79.43 per cent decline from US$64.06 million in Q2 2020 to US$13.18 million in Q2 2021. Correspondingly, the volume of crude oil imports declined from 2,188,215 bbl in 2020 to 201,821 bbl.
During the period, data presented by the Bank of Ghana reveal no record of importation of crude oil by the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), Volta River Authority (VRA), CENIT/VITOL/ADINKRA, Bulk Oil Storage and Transport Limited (BOST) and CENPOWER. Thus, the lack of import activity may account for the decline in import of crude oil during the period under review.
Gas oil sees largest import in Q2 2021
Meanwhile, among the list of petroleum products, gas oil was the most imported in terms of value, registering US$286.20 million in Q2 2021 up from US$106.91 million in Q2 2020. This represents overtwice the value of imports in the preceding year (167.7% +).
Also, the imports of premium petroleum products also increased from US$110.47 million in Q2 2020 to US$273.18 million in Q2 2021 (147.3% +). Volume of gas oil imports increased from 399,053MT in Q2 2020 to 532,846MT in the similar period in 2021.
Moreover, the importation of LPG increased from US$11.31 million in Q2 2020 to US$29.08 million imports in Q2 2021, reflecting 157.1 per cent rise in value of imports during the period. Aviation fuel also increased from US$1.24 million in Q2 2020 to US$12.82 million in Q2 2021.
In terms of import volumes, LPG consisted 64,687MT in Q2 2020 and declined to 58,892MT in Q2 2021 whereas aviation fuel increased from 5,080MT in Q2 2020 to 23,719MT in Q2 2021.
However, gas supply from the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) declined from US$49.07 million in Q2 2020 to US$41.77 million in Q2 2021. This is partly due to the planned suppression of gas supply from the WAGP outlet to make way for the addition of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in the country’s energy mix. Imports by volume, therefore declined from 6,685,343 MMBTu in Q2 2020 to 5,662,655MMBTu in Q2 2021.
Likewise, other fuels combined, declined from US$23.08 million in Q2 2020 to 18.69 million in Q2 2021, reflecting a 19.02 per cent decline in the importation of other fuels.
With such huge dependence on petroleum imports, this provides impetus for the legitimacy in the country’s planned investment in the proposed petroleum hub.
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