GOIL withdrawal from AOMCs will hurt association – COPEC Boss

GOIL is generally considered the biggest oil marketing company in the country, with “every one in five Ghanaians that buy fuel, buying from them”.

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GOIL announced that it was withdrawing from the Association of Oil Marketing Companies (AOMCs) on Wednesday, after the leadership of the association alleged that the company had been influenced by the government to reduce the price of its petroleum products.

However, in an interview with Accra-based Citi News, the Executive Director of the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) is urging the company to reconsider its decisions, as an insistence on same can adversely affect the strength of the AOMCs.

GOIL is generally considered the biggest oil marketing company in the country, with “every one in five Ghanaians that buy fuel, buying from them”.

The company announced that it was reducing the price of its petroleum products after a sit-down strike by private and commercial transport workers across the capital on Monday.

The leadership of the transport unions, however, announced around midday that it was suspending the strike, to enable negotiations, in the aftermath of an invite from the government on this agenda.

While the outcome of the meeting is not presently known, GOIL announced its reductions shortly afterwards, albeit to accusations that this was under influence from the government.

A statement released by the company on Wednesday described these accusations as “gross disrespect,” noting that it had been “treated with contempt and public ridicule”.

Consequently, the company indicated that it had “therefore decided to suspend its membership of the Association immediately”.

Mr. Duncan Amoah is the Executive Director of the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC).

He argued that the departure of GOIL will weaken the association. This is because “if the larger player is no longer part of it, you could as well imagine what becomes of the association as far as their decision and pressures they want to exert on government is concerned.”

He added that “some initial talks has gone on and GOIL is really not too enthused about the position that the association took although they also did not take that position in a vacuum except to say that as a member of their association, the onus would have been bigger on them to consult or to ask and possibly also make an informed position on that issue but this is one of the things that we never really expected.”

Nonetheless, Mr Duncan insists that the full brunt of this withdrawal will be felt by all parties involved, albeit, sharply, by the AOMC itself.

“GOIL is the largest currently [in the market]. [Their exit] would have a lot of influence. What GOIL’s suspension will do to the association is to weaken it, not peripherally but from the centre because for every 1 in five Ghanaians that buy fuel, they buy from GOIL. The association would need the full force of its membership in order that if there are things that they do not agree especially with government, they will be able to have the collective bargaining power and pressure to get certain things done for their members,” he said.