The newly appointed Executive Chairman of the Petroleum Regulatory Agency (PRA), Brima Mohamed Baluwa Koroma, has placed high value on professionalism, compliance and transparency in his administration, as a springboard in actualizing the President Bio’s vision in the sector.

PRA was established by the Government of Sierra Leone in pursuance of the Petroleum Regulatory Act to license and regulate the importation, refining, storage, transportation and distribution of petroleum product, so as to ensure their regular supply to users as at reasonable standard prices, and the efficient administration and enforcement of the enactment relating to downstream petroleum activities.

In his maiden meeting with members of Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs), management and staff of the agency at his British Council office at Tower Hill, Freetown, Koroma said, was quoted to have said, “his relationship places high value on professionalism, compliance and transparency in a bid to actualize the President’s vision in the sector”.
The Executive Chairman also premised his relentless focus on three things, namely, compliance, monitoring and enforcement; fairness in the industry for all players so as to make the petroleum industry a compelling place to invest; health, safety & environmental risk management.

“Though, I feel duty bound to treat all of them with fairness, but I remain responsible to the government and people of Sierra Leone as the agency under this dispensation will be a dynamic and forward looking organization with the support of government at all times to achieve its goals.”
“We will ensure that all revenue due government is collected for the benefit of all of us, hence, will not allow anyone to slow us down by using creative activities and beat the system” he averred.

He requested for the provision of annual projections for product volume, which he said, will be reviewed on a monthly basis in order to assist the Ministry of Finance in their revenue projections and planning.

For this reason, he strongly advised all those owing government to settle their debts as soon as possible, as the agency will not watch them carry any accrued debt beyond 2018.

The industrious Executive Chairman also frowned at all dealings with reputational risk, which he strongly warned must be changed. He further emphasised that Oil and Gas activities must take place within a sound, healthy and safety working environment. Environmental concerns were also taken into consideration.

He also reminded that in addition to the function envisaged by the PRA act, the Agency has the authority to sanction or penalize defaulters which includes suspension, revocation or variation of license under the sub-regulation.

OMCs Representatives including NP (SL) Limited, TOTALSL) Limited, LEONOIL(SL) Limited and PETROLJETTY LIMITED in their respective statements welcomed the Executive Chairman and wished him success in his new endeavours.

They furthered highlighted the challenges in the sector and expressed optimistic under the new direction.

Prio to his appointement, the Executive Chairman was Chief Finance Officer, Safecon Petroleum (SL) Limited. He took astute leadership role in the financial matters of the company. He served as the custodian of funds and maintained the integrity of cash flow. In a short period, he developed and established accounting policies and procedure. He also acted as Chief Executive Officer in the absence of the substantive.

Additionally, he was Director, Fixed Income Sales, Standard Chartered Bank, China Limited. At Standard Bank, he held several key positions of senior management level and won the prestigious Standard Chartered Bank value Award for Creativity among several others..