Puma Energy, a global mid and downstream petroleum company, has officially been launched to operate in Ghana’s fuel storage market.
The company partnered with Blue Ocean Investments for the storage business and UBI Petroleum, which was renamed – Puma Energy Distribution Ghana – on the retail side, to deliver quality and affordable fuel to the nation.
“Puma Energy seeks to build infrastructure and make affordable fuel available to consumers through its growing retail network of over 40 stations,” Christophe Zyde, the Chief Operating Officer for Puma Energy Africa, said.
“Not only does this stimulate economic growth by connecting urban and rural areas, it gets people, goods, trade and industry moving,” he said.
In Ghana, we have built partnerships with local players – Blue Ocean Investments and UBI Petroleum – in order to increase the fuel storage capacity of Ghana and to bring efficiencies and enhance economic growth.”
Puma Energy has been supporting the country’s fuel industry for nearly 10 years through the construction and operation of the CBM import system, and helped the aviation sector with the creation of new terminals.
Through Blue Ocean Investments, the company recently built three new storage terminals at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA), Tema Ridge and Takoradi.
The CBM system has also consistently been available and is used to import crude and other oil products into the country.
The company also added storage capacity of 10,000m³ to the existing 750m³ at the KIA aviation fuel depot, bolstering security of supply at the airport and positioning Ghana’s only international airport as a contender for major airlines using it as a hub for the West Africa sub-region.
The increased air traffic remains a significant boost to the country’s potential for trade and economic growth and with the Tema Ridge depot, the further 15,000m³ of storage of aviation fuel rallies efficiency, reinforces security of supply and aids improved planning for the entire market.
The new Takoradi Terminal supports the Ghanaian government’s policy to improve regional fuel supply.
“The increased capacity and security of supply provided by our investments into aviation storage at KIA and Tema Ridge means that Ghana can optimise its positioning as a hub for aviation in West Africa,” Myles Bouvier-Baird, General Manager for Puma Energy Ghana, said.
“The same goes for our investments into clean fuel storage at our Takoradi Terminal, which will be the first depot to store gasoline in Ghana’s Western Region,” he added.
Puma Energy says it directly hires 162 people in Ghana and has invested over $2 billion in Africa, and in 2015, added 350 million litres of storage capacity to the 900 million litres it already had in the region.
Source: The Finder