January 23, 2014 [Bloomberg] - Ghana Oil Co., the second-biggest operator of gasoline stations in the West African nation, is investing $10 million on marine fuel-storage tanks at the port of Takoradi to boost its share of the bunkering market.
The company started procuring materials for the project and will complete it in a year, Managing Director Patrick Akorli said by phone yesterday. He declined to provide the capacity of the storage facility until construction is finished.
Takoradi is one of the twin capitals of Ghana’s Western region, where Tullow Oil Plc (TLW) began producing crude at the Jubilee field in December 2010. Ghana Oil has a 31 percent market share in bunkering, the process of supplying a ship with fuel, said Akorli. There are as many as 105 licensed oil-marketing companies, he said.
“We want to increase our market share of the bunkering industry,” Akorli said. “Opportunities have grown at the port because of the oil pumping activities in the region.”
Ghana Oil’s shares are unchanged in Accra this year at 89 pesewas after rallying 44 percent in 2013.
The company, also known as Goil, supplies ships at Tema port from a 2.5 million liter tank facility, according to Akorli. Goil owns a majority stake in the site, with Total Petroleum Ghana owning 49 percent, and they charge 22 other companies 0.8 U.S. cents a liter to use the storage facilities, he said.
