Regulatory Issue Resolved in Ghana for VA Chemical Business

 Afton Chemical, located in Richmond, VA, develops and manufactures petroleum additives for lubricating oils and fuels to enhance their performance in machinery, vehicles, and other equipment.  Afton Chemical Corporation sought assistance from the U.S. Commercial Service (CS) Richmond office in working with Ghana’s Standards Authority to change proposed technical standards for automotive fuels that, if implemented, would negatively impact U.S. exports of fuel additives. Ghana’s proposed concentration levels of certain additives, without sufficient scientific evidence to support their approach, would have excluded the U.S. supplier from the growing Ghanaian market. CS Ghana collaborated with Afton Chemical and Ghanian government officials who were working on the adoption of new standards for Automotive Fuels in Ghana. 

CS Ghana’s connection allowed Afton Chemical to present their scientific findings about appropriate concentration levels of the additive and be considered in the final policy decision. CS Ghana’s effort in support of Afton Chemical led to a revision of the proposed draft standard which would have negatively impacted Afton Chemical’s exports to Ghana. The final standard that was adopted eliminated that potential threat to the company’s exports. 

 “On behalf of Afton Chemical, I want to thank you…for the excellent work done in Ghana to support our business and environmental goals. We were at risk of having our fuel additive product, mmt®, prohibited in fuel standards at a low treat rate… Your team worked with us to reverse that prohibition, culminating in Ghana re-setting the mmt® treat to the scientifically justified level of 18mg/L Mn, which has benefits to Ghana in terms of environment, cleaner air, less greenhouse gas emissions, and fuel cost reduction… The [CS] team helped identify relevant stakeholders in Ghana [and] set up communications and presentations… I would also add that we have found in many countries that engagement by the [CS] helps lend credibility and prioritization of the issues that we are trying get attention to with the local stakeholders… This success in Ghana is particularly important in that it has implications for neighboring countries with even bigger markets.” - John Walsh, Senior Mgr., Industry Advocacy.