By Amin Kef Sesay
One of the public institutions that President Julius Maada Bio, on the 18th May 2021, during his address in Parliament to mark the proclamation of the Fourth Session of the Fifth Parliament of the Second Republic, highly extolled for exemplary performance since taking over governance is the Petroleum Regulatory Agency (PRA).
The President said categorically that even through COVID-19, the Petroleum Regulatory Agency is constructing a second petroleum jetty, has maintained an open-market policy, developed a new tank farm to hold strategic stock, introduced guidelines for downstream activities, maintained price stability based on a transparent pricing formula in spite of supply chain disruptions, and significantly improved petroleum revenue and service delivery in the downstream petroleum sector.
Such a commendation coming from the First Gentleman while addressing such an August body speaks volumes of how the infusing of good and sober managerial initiatives could resurrect or transform an important public institution which had gone down the drains due to political meddling at the expense of the State. Indeed, it cannot be swept under the carpet that the good thing that happened to the PRA was the coming in of Dr. Brima Baluwa Koroma as Executive Chairman after his appointment by His Excellency, President Julius Maada Bio.
Together with a team of competent colleagues, Dr. Koroma has taken such a significant public institution from one that was almost dysfunction to become a very vibrant entity that is currently generating huge revenue for Government, some of which could be plough back to make the petroleum industry become buoyant and highly competitive.
The result-oriented Executive Chairman instituted certain reforms within the sector which brought about a turnaround that has been occasioned by marked improvements evident in the restoration of investors’ confidence and widening the market space which has attracted new players. As a matter of fact this medium was made to understand that a new player is in the offing and it is known as All Petroleum Products.
Three years at the helms of affairs at the PRA, the Executive Chairman has been able to institute reforms that have helped to sanitize the downstream sector, by restoring investor’s confidence and opening market space for new players like the All Petroleum Products who are set to start full-scale operation as an oil marketing company in the country.
Another sterling reform initiative that is been rolled out through the technical expertise of Dr. Brima Baluwa Koroma borders around improving the petroleum industry infrastructure and this includes constructing tank farms in various locations and exploring the possibility of rehabilitating the oil refinery.
Also of significance is ensuring bulk transportation and retailing with the aim in mind of enhancing petroleum product security and affordability. Besides, the PRA has ensured that strict compliance to set regulations by players within the industry is maintained.
President Bio was quite right when he pointed out that in spite of the ravages of the corona virus the institution was able to increase revenue. Indeed, records reveal that petroleum revenue under the indefatigable PRA Boss increased from Le473billion in 2018 to Le753billion in 2020.
As a serious regulatory entity the PRA has made it a laid down policy to be constantly monitoring available stocks of oil marketing companies always admonishing them to have adequate supply.
Research discloses that petroleum importation grew by 27.9% from 340,060 metric tons in 2018 to 459,960 metric tons in 2020 and annual sales and distribution recorded 416 million litres in 2020 with an improved run-rate expected by the end of 2021.
With the PRA now having its own Platts with twenty-four hours updates is indeed a remarkable feat. Platts means a price benchmark service for the oil industry. Platts pricing plus a premium or minus a discount is the preferred pricing mechanism on that requirement.
Before such an achievement Platts used to be a challenge for the Agency and they used to rely on data from oil marketing companies to know whether there would be any increase or decrease in the world market. That made the Agency to be in a disadvantaged position to know movement in the world market.
Today, PRA has its own Platts with twenty-four hours updates which have made them follow every trend in the world market.
True to the words of President Bio during the COVID-19 pandemic the PRA ensured access to adequate, reliable and cost-effective petroleum products which largely was why the country never went out of supply despite those lockdowns and halt in sea transportation.
Through the leadership style of Dr. Koroma though there were situations when Serra Leone recorded a combined increase in platts price and exchange rate depreciation which resulted in a significant breach of the 5% trigger mechanism, Government decided to keep the pump price unchanged at Le8,500 per litre, which was below the market price, costing Government huge sums of money just to cushion the effect of the pandemic given the loss of jobs and income.
Without mincing the truth, the Petroleum Regulatory Agency truly deserves a pat on the back for the impressive reforms it has rolled out and for those under implementation. And the brain behind all these good transformation is the charismatic Executive Chairman, Dr. Brima Baluwa Koroma.
