Attempts have been made in the past to mark or identify various fuel products in order to prevent fraud. For example, fuel marking with dyes…
The post Imani Africa Report: How to Prevent Fuel Fraud In Africa appeared first on IMANI Africa.
April 21, 2016 [IMANI Africa] Attempts have been made in the past to mark or identify various fuel products in order to prevent fraud. For example, fuel marking with dyes has been in use since the 1950s but can be easily defeated using cheap and simple methods to launder out the dye. However, newer technologies using molecular markers as part of an overall fuel supply chain protection program have proven to reduce existing criminal activities and deter others. The impact of fuel fraud, how fuel marking programs operate and the results of some current African programs are presented here to support the further adoption of this technology across the continent. Saudi Arabia, for example, is estimated to lose billions of barrels of diesel to neighbouring United Arab Emirates (UAE) each year as a result of (subsidy-induced) smuggling.6 Also, Algeria lost about $1.3 billion in tax revenues to cross-border fuel smuggling in 2013 according to the Business Recorder. In Ghana, the benefits of fuel marking technology are immediate. The results include over 100% Return on Investment (ROI) and an estimated increase of about $11 million in tax excise collection per annum.[1] The fuel marking programme has helped the government to raise more revenue from the taxed petroleum products without having to increase the tax rates. Read more below.
