The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) permitted the distribution of approximately 87 million litres of petrol without mandatory quality marking, as revealed by the Auditor-General. This oversight exposed Ghanaian consumers to the risk of purchasing substandard fuel at retail outlets. The lapse also resulted in an estimated GHS 78.6 million loss to the Unified Petroleum Pricing Fund (UPPF).
This significant failure in the NPA’s petroleum product quality assurance system occurred between January 2023 and May 2026. The Auditor-General’s Performance Audit Report highlighted discrepancies between marked and distributed petroleum volumes. This raises serious concerns about the integrity of fuel supplied across the country and potential tax revenue losses for the State.
This issue fits into a broader narrative of regulatory oversight challenges within Ghana's energy sector. Ensuring fuel quality is crucial for consumer protection and maintaining fair market practices. Previous instances of fuel adulteration have led to public outcry and calls for stricter enforcement. The current findings underscore the need for robust monitoring mechanisms to prevent such occurrences.
The Auditor-General stated, "The NPA did not adequately carry out the marking and distribution of petroleum products." The report further noted, "There was no assurance that the product was of the desired quality at the pumps and that the appropriate tax on the sale of the unmarked product was collected by the State." These statements directly attribute the failures to the NPA's operational shortcomings.
Moving forward, the NPA faces pressure to implement immediate corrective measures to restore public confidence. Decision-makers will likely scrutinize the Authority's internal controls and compliance with existing regulations. Markets and consumers will watch for concrete actions to prevent future occurrences of substandard fuel distribution. This incident could trigger a review of the Petroleum Product Marking Regulations, 2012 (L.I. 2187), which governs these quality checks.
The petroleum product marking scheme was introduced to preserve and protect the quality of petroleum products. It also aims to detect and prevent adulteration and monitor fuel quality before products reach consumers. The NPA contracted Nationwide Technologies Limited (NTL) in 2019 to provide these marking services. Products are supposed to be marked after loading onto Bulk Road Vehicles (BRVs) and before transport to retail outlets.
An analysis of marking and distribution records revealed several discrepancies. Data from the NPA’s Quality Assurance Directorate and the UPPF Secretariat showed that between 2023 and 2025, 15.42 billion litres of petrol and diesel were marked. However, only 15.05 billion litres were distributed to retail outlets and bulk consumer sites. This variance represents approximately 362.56 million litres, or 2.35 per cent of the total petroleum products marked.
NPA management attributed these differences to variations in reporting classifications between the Petroleum Product Monitoring System (PPMS) and the UPPF Secretariat. The PPMS reported all marked products, including diesel supplied to power plants and cell sites. The UPPF Secretariat, however, reported only products attracting UPPF margins. The Auditor-General could not validate this explanation due to a lack of distribution data for some diesel products.
Further analysis specifically on petrol volumes revealed that 638,500 litres of petrol were marked but not distributed in 2023 and 2024. Conversely, approximately 87 million litres of petrol were distributed in 2025 without being marked. This directly contradicts the petroleum product marking requirements. The NPA paid Nationwide Technologies Limited US$2,688.09 for the 638,500 litres of petrol that were marked but not distributed. This indicates a financial inefficiency in addition to the quality assurance failure.