GHC200,000 Burns In Explosion

The recent fire outbreak at the Buipe Depot of the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation (BOST) Company Limited resulted in the loss of 36,000 litres of petrol valued at about GH¢200,000.

The disaster, according to BOST, started late in the evening of January 3, this year, and caused considerable damage to four bulk road vehicles (BRVs), two of which were loaded with petroleum products on the premises of the company.

Marlick Adjei, Head of Corporate Communications and External Affairs at BOST, said one of the two trucks on the premises which also contained 36,000 litres of diesel did not explode even though there was considerable damage to both trucks.

“At the current price of GH¢5.41/litre, the value of the product lost is estimated at GH¢194,760,” the statement noted.

The company disclosed that the affected BRVs belonged to the Ghana Oil Company (GOIL) and BF Energy, adding that per the standard of operating procedures, the trucks were not supposed to park within the premises of the depot.

The depot, which is the central fuel holding point of BOST, served the five regions of the north – Savanna, Northern, North-East, Upper East and Upper West – and receives products through river barges and BRVs from the Accra Plains depot of BOST.

BOST indicated that there was a sizable volume of products destroyed in the accident even though products supplied to the five regions remained untampered with.

The company assured the general public that its strategic fuel stocks for the affected regions and the country at large remained intact, adding that the cause of the fire was under investigation.