The Ghana Audit Service has uncovered significant regulatory weaknesses and potential revenue leakages in Ghana’s downstream petroleum sector, including the distribution of about 87 million litres of petrol without fuel marking in 2025.
The findings are contained in a Performance Audit report on the operations of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), released in June 2026.
The report identified weaknesses in the licensing of Bulk Road Vehicles (BRVs), tracking of petroleum product movements, fuel marking, monitoring of fuel outlets and the operation of Automatic Tank Gauging Systems (ATGS).
The findings were presented by the Assistant Director of the Performance and Special Audit Department of the Ghana Audit Service, Kwabena Safoh-Sarkwa, at a media training workshop in Accra on Monday, September 28, 2026.
The workshop was organised by the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) in partnership with the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) and Transparency International-Ghana (TI-Ghana).
It sought to strengthen journalists’ capacity to report on the Auditor-General’s findings on the NPA and improve public understanding of the recommendations contained in the report.
The programme formed part of a project dubbed “An Anti-Corruption Initiative for Enhancing Governance and Accountability”, which seeks to promote transparency, accountability and effective governance through stronger media reporting and public engagement.
Although the audit was completed within two months, compared with the standard nine-month period for such an exercise, Mr Safoh-Sarkwa said it still uncovered significant gaps in the NPA’s regulatory supervision.
The Audit Service found that only 2,514, representing 51.3 per cent, of the 4,904 registered petrol and diesel Bulk Road Vehicles had valid licences as of April 9, 2026.
Although BRV licences expire on December 31, operators are granted a grace period until March 31 of the following year.
However, during inspections of 25 BRVs at depots and fuel stations in March 2026, auditors found that nine were operating with expired licences.
The affected vehicles had not been deactivated from the NPA’s electronic system.
According to the audit, the NPA extended the deadline for deactivation because of concerns that the action could disrupt fuel supplies.
The auditors warned that the arrangement could allow unauthorised tankers to continue transporting petroleum products without adequate assurance that they met regulatory requirements designed to protect fuel quality and public safety.
The audit also uncovered gaps in the tracking of petroleum product movements.
Out of 1,092,440 trips recorded between 2023 and 2025, a total of 1,043,753 were tracked, leaving 48,678 trips untracked.
The number of untracked trips, however, declined from 35,249 in 2023 to 8,099 in 2024 and 5,330 in 2025.
The Audit Service noted that aviation turbine kerosene and naphtha were excluded from the tracking system because they did not attract margins under the Uniform Petroleum Pricing Fund (UPPF).
The auditors said the exclusion was inconsistent with Legislative Instrument 2251, which requires all petroleum products to be tracked.
The report also identified 544 UPPF-margin deliveries that were missed in 2023 during the transition from the vehicle tracking system to the electronic cargo tracking system.
In addition, 582 fuel diversions involving 9.78 million litres of petrol and diesel were recorded in 2024 and 2025.
However, all 25 BRVs inspected during the audit had functioning tracking devices and electronic seals.
GH¢78.6m potential UPPF loss
A major concern raised by the Audit Service was the discrepancy between the volume of petroleum products marked and the volume distributed.
Between 2023 and 2025, a total of 15,416.8 million litres of petrol and diesel were marked, compared with 15,054.2 million litres distributed.
This resulted in a variance of 362.6 million litres, equivalent to 2.35 per cent.
The annual variances were 83.1 million litres in 2023, 214.5 million litres in 2024 and 64.9 million litres in 2025.
The auditors found that although the NPA’s Quality Assurance Directorate and UPPF Secretariat conducted checks, neither unit reconciled the total volumes marked with the volumes distributed.
In 2025 alone, 3,011.2 million litres of petrol were marked, while 3,098.6 million litres were distributed.
The difference of approximately 87 million litres, according to the Audit Service, represented petrol that was distributed without being marked.
The auditors estimated the discrepancy could have resulted in a potential UPPF loss of GH¢78.6 million in 2025, in addition to possible tax revenue losses.
They further warned that unmarked petroleum products could expose consumers to substandard fuel because such products would not be traceable through marker testing.
The audit also found that $2,688.09 was paid to National Tracking Limited (NTL) for marking 638,500 litres of petrol between 2023 and 2024, although the product was never distributed.
Gaps in fuel outlet monitoring
The Audit Service reported that the NPA conducted 87,944 monitoring visits out of 88,678 planned visits between 2023 and 2025.
However, the number of planned monitoring visits declined by 19.8 per cent during the period, even as the number of licensed petroleum outlets increased by 1.3 per cent.
The audit also found that only 3,443 of the targeted 4,000 Automatic Tank Gauging Systems had been installed by March 2026, leaving 557 installations outstanding.
Of the systems installed, 1,813 were fully automated, while 1,630 were only partially automated due to challenges including missing forecourts, faulty pumps and unreliable power supplies.
An inspection of 23 sampled outlets with installed systems found that 11 of the systems were non-functional because of breakdowns, power-related damage and poor configuration.
The auditors also questioned GH¢648.62 million in lump-sum payments made to RASL between January 2023 and May 2026, saying there was no evidence that the maintenance work associated with the payments had been verified.
According to the report, some broken components had remained unrepaired since the systems were introduced.
The audit identified several instances in which fuel-quality concerns emerged despite existing regulatory controls.
At an outlet in Zuarungu in the Bolgatanga area, a marker test conducted on August 18, 2023, was passed. Six days later, a consumer reported water in the fuel, and a subsequent NPA inspection confirmed about 180 litres of water in the tank.
At Kanvili in Tamale, water contamination was reported in diesel after 36,000 litres had already been sold, making it impossible to conduct a marker test.
In Fijai and Nkroful in the Western Region, a driver’s vehicle reportedly developed engine problems in April 2025.
Subsequent marker tests on petroleum products at both outlets failed.
The Audit Service said the findings highlighted the need for stronger regulatory controls to ensure that petroleum products transported and sold in Ghana meet required quality, safety and revenue standards.
It said the weaknesses identified in the licensing, tracking, fuel marking and monitoring systems could undermine public safety, fuel quality and the collection of taxes and petroleum-related revenues.
Despite the findings, the Audit Service acknowledged what it described as the NPA’s commendable corrective posture and ongoing efforts to implement the Auditor-General’s recommendations.
The media training therefore placed emphasis on journalists’ role in monitoring the implementation of the recommendations and reporting on measures being taken to address the weaknesses identified by the audit.
