The Chamber of Oil Marketing Companies, COMAC, has questioned the quality of fuel sold in gallons and bottles by unregulated individuals in parts of the Central Region.

During a “mystery shopping” to fuel retail outlets in the Central Region, the Chief Executive Officer of COMAC, Dr Riverson Oppong, said the Chamber will engage the National Petroleum Authority, NPA to ascertain whether any policy framework permits such operations and to seek appropriate regulatory interventions.

He said, “we also found an upgraded level of ‘gaogao’ here where these people buy from the filling stations, store and sell them in bits in gallons and water bottles to people who need fuel in very small quantities. We saw some around the fisherfolk sites as well. I don’t know what policy framework allows this kind of movement but we need to make the regulators aware, and if there’s such a regulatory framework that allows this, there is a need to intervene.”

COMAC also observed during the “mystery shopping” that the Central Region’s petroleum market remains relatively slow compared to other parts of the country despite the generally good compliance rate.

Dr Riverson Oppong explained that the situation is due to the region’s location, leading to low patronage and skewed competition.

Dr. Oppong said, "the region finds itself in the middle of three regional hubs; the Western Region, Ashanti Region, and Greater Accra Region. Due to this, most of the vehicles will probably pick their fuel from Accra towards Takoradi, or Kumasi towards Takoradi. The market here is a cushion hub. We saw over competition here as well as we sighted three stations along the same stretch: one of them very busy while two of them were quite empty.”

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Dr Oppong added that some station managers have adopted innovative strategies to attract customers amid the slow market in the region.

“We spoke to one station manager who said that every Friday he does free breakfast. Thus, people wait until Friday to come and buy fuel because they get breakfast at the station. There’s one other service station that sells food on credit, just to attract a certain niche of people. Another fuel station targets the heavy trucks as it provides a big yard for them to rest. And in the morning as they are leaving, they top up on their fuel from the station. So I think the market is being dynamic about how to win a particular niche.”

COMAC’s exercise was aimed at monitoring fuel filling and service stations across the Central Region to assess compliance with operational and safety standards, check fuel quantity accuracy and understand market dynamics within the petroleum retail sector.

During the monitoring visit, COMAC’s team noted that about 85 percent of service stations inspected are adhering to safety protocols. Random checks were also conducted to verify whether customers were receiving accurate quantities of fuel or not.

‎COMAC says it will continue its nationwide monitoring exercise to ensure operational compliance, promote fair competition and engage regulators on emerging industry challenges.

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