In an interview on Adom FM’s morning show Dwaso Nsem Wednesday, Mr. Provencal said it is important that the company adapt to future energy trends.

“As we look ahead, oil usage is expected to decline. In 20 years, if electric vehicles become the norm, what will happen to BOST?” he questioned.

He continued that “Since oil is just one form of energy, we need to ensure our relevance for the future. It’s better to start evolving now and prepare for what’s to come.”

He elaborated on the need for change, saying, “If we limit ourselves to just oil, we risk becoming obsolete. We are putting strategies together to evolve over time and stay relevant in the energy sector.”

BOST, now BEST, is a state-owned strategic stock company responsible for maintaining essential petroleum reserves for West Africa.

Mr. Provencal took over as Managing Director in August 2019, following the departure of George Mensah Oakley.

At that time, BOST’s assets—including pipeline infrastructure, storage tanks, barges, and tugboats—had been neglected and in need of significant repairs.

Source:Adomonline.com | Dorcas Abedu-Kennedy

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The Distributors said the proposal contradicted the deregulation policy governing the petroleum downstream sector, expressing concerns that it aimed to indirectly control the exchange rate by channelling Sentuo Oil Refinery’s cedi liquidity through Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company (BOST) to manage USD allocations under the G40 programme.  

A statement issued in Accra by Dr Patrick Ofori, the Chief Executive of CBOD, in a plea directed at Dr Alhaji Mahamadu Bawumia, the Vice President and Head of the Economic Management Team (EMT), urged a reconsideration of the proposal, asserting that achieving the necessary USD liquidity for the G40 programme could be accomplished without tying Sentuo Oil Refinery’s entire output to BEST.  

“We are convinced that this plan is inconsistent with the deregulation policy that guides the activities of the petroleum downstream sector. We are informed that the plan has been necessitated by the government’s aim to control the exchange rate by indirectly ceding Sentuo Oil Refinery’s cedi liquidity through BEST for the latter to manage USD allocations under the G40 programme,” it said.  

The statement appealed to the Vice President to review this proposal.  

It said providing the needed USD liquidity under the G40 programme could still be achieved without necessarily anchoring the entire output of Sentuo Oil Refinery Limited (SORL) with BEST.  

The statement said the proposal had the potential of market challenges and deficiencies that could detrimentally affect the downstream sector in the medium to long term.  

It asserted that the proposal undermined government efforts to foster private sector involvement and contravened the successful petroleum deregulation policy.  

“By sidelining Bulk Oil Import, Distribution and Export Companies (BIDECs), the government risks stifling competition and impeding the growth of a robust private sector within the industry,” it said.  

It warned of the risk of creating a monopolistic market controlled by a single entity, which could negatively impact both the downstream sector and the fuel-consuming public.  

The Chamber emphasised the need for a framework that promoted active participation from all stakeholders, including BEST, BIDECs, and private entities across the downstream value chain.  

“The government risks creating a monopolistic market which will negatively impact the downstream sector and the fuel–consuming public at large and the G40 programme has nearly given 50 per cent control of the market to BEST whereas Sentuo production accounts for 20 per cent of the market needs,” it said.  

It said having a single player control such a monumental share would rob the market of the benefits of efficiency, lower prices and growing local market expertise that the deregulation policy had occasioned.  

The statement said significant contributions of the BIDEC subsector to national development, include ensuring energy sufficiency during supply shortages and investing in storage infrastructure.  

It urged policymakers to reconsider their stance and adopt a collaborative approach that leveraged the strengths of all entities.  

The statement reiterated the Chamber’s commitment to collaborating with the government to develop a G40 framework that fostered fair market practices, transparency, innovation, sustainability, and efficiency within Ghana’s downstream petroleum sector.  

“The Chamber is committed to working with the government to develop a workable G40 framework that fosters fair market practices and transparency while promoting innovation, sustainability and an efficient downstream petroleum sector in Ghana,” it said.  

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The ranking, according to U.S. News and World Report, is produced to provide insight into how universities compare globally so that prospective students could make the best choices.

 It, therefore, focuses specifically on the institution’s academic research and overall reputation. The overall best global universities rankings encompass the top 1,500 institutions spread across 81 countries. 

With a global score of 42.4, KNUST had a global reputation for research of 1,044, regional research reputation of 21. It also obtained 1,572 publications, 1,189 books, 1,444 conferences, 33 normalisation citation impact and a total citation of 1,0409.

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In addition, KNUST attained 949 percentage of total publications that are among the 10 percent most cited, 381 International collaborations – relative to the country, and 15 International collaborations. This latest ranking projects KNUST as the best University for teaching, learning and research in Ghana and West Africa as a whole. 

The first step in producing these rankings, which are powered by Clarivate Analytics Incites, involved creating a pool of 1,599 Universities that is used to rank the top 1,500 schools.

 The second step is to calculate the rankings using the 13 indicators and weights that U.S. News chose to measure global research performance.

Each of the 1,500 top-ranked university’s profile pages on usnews.com lists the overall global score as well as numerical ranks for the 13 indicators, allowing students, academics and university leaders to compare each university’s standing in each indicator.

These indicators include; global research reputation, regional research reputation, publications, books authored, conference papers, normalised citation impact, total citations, number of publications that are among the 10% most cited, percentage of total publications that are among the 10% most cited, international collaboration – relative to country, international collaboration, number of highly cited papers that are among the top 1% most cited in their respective field, percentage of total publications that are among the top 1% most highly cited papers, and general reputation.

The U.S. News & World Report is a multi-platform publisher of news and information, which includes; annual print and e-book versions of its authoritative rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools and Best Hospitals in the World.

 The 86-year-old organisation based in Washington D.C. is in the business of ranking and evaluating universities based on their research performance and its ratings by members of the academic community around the world and in its region. 

The student, Enoch Asare was said to have committed the dastardly act in revenge on the invigilator whom he claimed was very strict on them.

This unfortunate incident occurred at Awutu Bontrase examination Center in the Awutu Senya West district of the Central region.

Adom News’ Kofi Adjei who followed the story reported that the JHS graduate notice the beehive while attending nature’s call and decided to use it as a weapon to punish the invigilator.

He indicated that, after the final paper, Enoch rushed to the bush shook the branch causing bees to rush out of the hive and headed straight the examination centre.

Kofi Adjei noted that, both teachers, students and the invigilator who were celebrating on the compound were attacked by the bees.

Unfortunately, he said the invigilator is physically challenged thus could not run to save himself from the attacks.

He stated that the invigilator was stung in a horrific attack by a swarm of bees and was rushed to the hospital.

Some of the students and teachers who were attacked were given first aid and later sent to the hospital.

However, Enoch Asare who orchestrated the attack emerged un-stung but was arrested by the Awutu Bontrase and is assisting in investigations.