Ghana’s Finance Minister, Seth Terkper, denied that government pays subsidies to the Ghana Oil company Limited (GOIL), Ghana Web informed.

GOIL’s COO, Alex Josiah Adzew said: “We have over 16,000 shareholders. So, this tag of being a state-owned enterprise should be discounted,” as Pulse reported. He added: “We are operating as a fully commercial enterprise accountable to our board of directors who represent shareholders,” denying the subsidies allegations.

The Chamber of Bulk Oil Distribution Companies (CBOD) has accused the government of subsidizing the state-owned oil companies to ensure prices remains unchanged even when there is supposed to be price hikes. The Chamber’s, Senyo Hosi, claimed that the government does this to help the state-owned oil company to outcompete the oil companies in the private sector.

This comes as GOIL’s Group CEO and Managing Director of GOIL, Patrick A.K. Akorli, said work on the 13.5m liter Marine Gas Oil tanks at the Takoradi port would be completed in Q1 2017 so as to open avenues for bigger vessels to be bunkered. He announced the company’s intention to construct a bitumen plant in Tema in 2017 to serve the growing construction industry.