The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has instructed Strategic Mobilisation Limited (SML) to resume its monitoring operations in the Downstream Petroleum sector effective June 14, 2024.
This directive, issued in a statement dated June 12, 2024, to the Bulk Oil Distributors, aligns with President Akufo-Addo’s directives based on the KPMG report.
The GRA emphasized that SML is expected to ensure all systems are fully operational and compliant with relevant standards and regulations to provide accurate, reliable, and timely monitoring services to support revenue assurance.
The Bulk Oil Distributors are advised to cooperate to ensure the successful resumption of the monitoring exercise.
In a related development, the Ministry of Energy, in collaboration with the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and other relevant stakeholders, has developed new standards for measurements in the oil and gas sector based on the Singaporean Standard.
The Ministry of Energy urged all entities undertaking measurements for revenue assurance in the oil and gas sector to adhere to these new standards.
The Minister for Trade and Industry, pursuant to Section 13 of the Ghana Standards Authority Act, 2022, Act 1078, has declared these standards operational and mandatory.
This move ensures that all measurements for revenue assurance in the oil and gas sector are conducted according to the new standards.
President Akufo-Addo commissioned KPMG on January 2 to audit the contract between the GRA and SML. The KPMG report, submitted to the president, revealed that SML received a total of GH¢1,061,054,778.00 from 2018 to the present.
This amount included GH¢454,860,396.27 for transaction audit and external price verification payments and GH¢945,342,007.29 for downstream petroleum measurement payments.
The KPMG report provides an in-depth analysis of the partnership aimed at enhancing revenue collection in Ghana.
The contract with SML was intended to leverage advanced technological solutions to streamline tax collection processes, reduce leakages, and increase overall efficiency in the operations of the GRA.
