The Centre for Environmental Management and Sustainable Energy (CEMSE) has renewed calls for the government to abolish the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company (BOST) margin, describing it as an unnecessary levy that continues to burden consumers and businesses.
The levy, which was originally introduced to support BOST’s maintenance of storage and distribution infrastructure, has quadrupled in five years from GH¢0.03 per litre in 2020 to GH¢0.12 per litre as of August 2025.
Over the same period, BOST’s annual revenue from the levy rose sharply from GH¢211 million in 2020 to more than GH¢424 million in 2023. Despite this, critics argue that the funds have not been used effectively.
CEMSE’s latest report flagged questionable expenditure trends, noting that spending on training, seminars, and conferences ballooned from GH¢3 million in 2020 to GH¢20 million in 2023.
Meanwhile, the much-publicised Afram Plains pipeline project remains incomplete, with some imported pipes reportedly declared unfit for use.
At the same time, BOST has become profitable without relying solely on the levy, earning billions of cedis from terminal and commercial operations. This, according to CEMSE, raises serious concerns about the relevance of the margin.
“If other limited liability companies like the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) or the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) don’t receive free levies, why should BOST?” the Centre questioned.
CEMSE further warned that the levy has a direct impact on fuel prices, driving up transport costs, inflation, and household expenses.
In its assessment, the levy no longer functions as a stabilising mechanism but instead gives BOST an unfair advantage in the downstream petroleum market.
“In a deregulated market where private players already control 80 percent of storage and transport, the BOST margin is redundant and gives the company an unfair advantage. Every extra pesewa added to fuel prices pushes up the cost of living. The BOST margin is no longer a safety net, it’s a hidden tax,” the report stressed.
The Centre has therefore called for the immediate scrapping of the BOST margin to ease economic pressure on consumers and ensure fair competition in the petroleum downstream sector.
