The Ministry of Aviation has assured the public and stakeholders in the aviation industry that it is liaising with the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) and the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) to resolve the current aviation fuel shortage as soon as possible.

In an interview with the Times yesterday, the Director of Operations of the ministry, Mr Selby Twumasi-Ankra, attributed the shortage to a leaking pipe that has affected the production.

He said TOR and the Ghana Airports Company have duly notified the airlines to make alternative arrangements while the problem is being solved.

So far, he said, the shortage has not affected any flight yet and he was hopeful that it would be solved soon.

Meanwhile, TOR has announced that plans are far advanced for the commissioning of a 20,000 m3 Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK) facility by the middle of next month to ensure adequate supply to forestall a future shortage.

In a statement signed by its Public Affairs Manager, Ms Aba Lokko, TOR urged the Joint User Hydrant Installation (JUHI) to increase their storage capacity at the airport.

It also asked GPHA to change the loading and discharging arms into flexible hoses as done elsewhere in the industry.

The JUHI is a joint partnership between Shell and Total companies that supply Aviation Fuel (AI) to airlines operating to and from Ghana.

The statement explained that on Tuesday, May 20, during the loading and discharge of the ATK at the Tema port, a leakage was detected.
"In view of the imminent fire and environment hazard that could arise, it became expedient to stop discharging and eliminate the leakage."

According to the statement, JUHI was informed of the problem and GPHA set out immediately to look for an appropriate crane to bring down the loading and discharging arms to be fixed but without success.

As an interim measure, the statement said, a cargo vessel was scheduled to discharge gasoline cargo through an arm used in discharging fuel oil.

"This is intended to clean the discharging and loading arms and make them suitable to discharge ATK.

"We hope to discharge the ATK by (tomorrow) Saturday, May 31," the statement assured.

Earlier, JUHI had said there was a complete "stock out" of aviation fuel (Jet A1) in the country. It ran out on Monday May 26, and according to JUHI the situation was becoming precarious.

It said its attempt at lifting fuel from TOR had proved unproductive due to what TOR described as technical hitches encountered in discharging 6,000 metric tons of Jet A1 at the Oil jetty at the harbour.

A reliable source at the JUHI told the Times that efforts at lifting some of the aviation fuel from Lome, Togo had also proved futile because of the unavailability of the product in that country.

JUHI said it has therefore advised airlines coming into the country to make alternative arrangements for aviation fuel.

However, the source said internal flight operators are being serviced from the emergency stock because of the low volume of intake of their light aircraft.

Source: The Ghanaian Times