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A major fuel shortage looms as controversy surrounding an amount of $300 million, being foreign exchange losses claim submitted by the Bulk Oil Distribution Companies (BDCs), is taking too long to be resolved, creating liquidity crisis for the BDCs. The foreign exchange losses were incurred as a result of depreciation of the cedi from June 2011 to December 2013, which government did not pass on to the consumer and therefore has to pay it to the BDCs. In addition, government owes the BDCs another GH�420 million in price subsidy. Reliable sources within the BDCs told The Finder that the BDCs are now processing foreign exchange losses claims for 2014, which also runs into millions of dollars, which could compound the situation. Disagreements over the $300 million foreign exchange losses claim between BDCs and government resulted in government contracting Ernst and Young, an audit firm in the second week of June 2014, to audit the claims of the BDCs before payment. According to the sources, government�s inability to pay the foreign exchange subsidy plus price subsidy of GH₵420 million, translating into GH�1.32 billion, has created serious liquidity crisis for the BDCs, especially when banks have once again started withdrawing financing for oil transactions due to the indebtedness. In the beginning of July 2014, seven of 10 banks withdrew financing for BDCs due to their indebtedness. But when government paid GH�450 million out of the GH�1.8 billion debt, the banks restored financing. The BDCs are usually pre-financed by the banks to purchase petroleum products for onward distribution to the market. The sources explained that BDCs can only import products worth amounts available to them, an indication of shortfalls in the not too distant future. The sources told The Finder that the BDCs have waived the interest accrued on the $300m foreign exchange losses, but the money will have to be paid at the prevailing exchange rate. With regard to the GH₵420m price subsidy, the sources said the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has a mechanism for calculating to ensure the value of the money is maintained. Ernst and Young was expected to submit its report by the end of July 2014, which has not materialised. When contacted, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD), Mr Senyo Hosi, told The Finder that the audit firm has asked for an open-ended extension because it had not received the needed data from the banks to conduct the audit. He said information available to him indicates that the auditors are yet to even present a draft report to the NPA for scrutiny by stakeholders. It will be recalled that there were long queues in almost all fuel dispensing stations across the country in the last week of June and the first week of July 2014 as a result of the refusal of international suppliers to release fuel products onto the market.