Chamber of Petroleum Consumers urges public to boycott fuel stations that refuse to reduce prices

On Monday (March 16, 2020), which was officially the next pricing window, OMCs in the country were expected to reduce their fuel prices at the pump due to the drop in crude oil prices by 30% because of a price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia.

The appreciation of the Ghana cedi against major trading currencies was also another reason for the price reductions at the pump.

Even though OMCs such as GOIL has reduced their prices between 5% and 7%, others are yet to follow suit.

In an interview with Accra-based Citi FM, the Executive Director of COPEC, Duncan Amoah, said consumers must send a strong message to such OMCs by boycotting their products.

“Some OMCs as we speak, have refused to even reduce prices. We would want to encourage consumers to ensure that they are price sensitive at this time. They should be on the lookout, and be sure to check for prices before they do their purchases around this time when prices should have gone down.”

The Chamber had earlier predicted that it expects prices of petroleum products at the pumps to go down by about 15%.

COPEC has stated that they are hopeful the OMCs will reduce fuel prices further since the current reduction is insignificant. Mr Duncan-Amoah said a further reduction will bring great relief to consumers

The Institute of Energy Security (IES), had however predicted a reduction of about 5% to 8% at the pumps, whiles the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), also said prices were to go down by 15%.

Meanwhile, the Association of Oil Marketing Companies has called on stakeholders to stop interfering in the pricing decisions of its members.