The Chamber of Oil Marketing Companies (COMAC) has cautioned Bulk Distribution Companies against artificially increasing fuel prices, warning that such practices violate the country’s petroleum pricing policy.

The Executive Secretary of the chamber, Riverson Oppong, said certain practices within the downstream petroleum sector — including artificial product hauling and preferential selling — could distort fuel prices and negatively affect consumers.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Monday, March 9, Dr Oppong stressed that any price adjustment in the market should be based on the official pricing framework rather than speculative actions.

He warned that attempts by some industry players to manipulate supply or prices could undermine government efforts to cushion consumers from fuel price shocks.

We operate a two-week window. This week we have a pricing window that will end on Wednesday, and the selling window will start on March 16. Every product that has been imported was brought in prior to the war. So when we have BDCs increasing prices to the OMCs, that is very worrying, he said.

Dr Oppong noted that although the chamber had projected a two to three per cent increase in fuel prices even before the conflict, the current increases being observed were excessive.

Even though the chamber had predicted a two to three per cent increment in fuel prices before the war, moving from seven per cent to nine per cent within a selling window is not acceptable, he added.

According to him, the current fuel pricing window had already been determined before recent geopolitical developments that could influence global oil prices.

But the artificial hauling of products and artificial price increases, as well as preferential selling by some BDCs, are not organic and go against the pricing policy in the country. We need to be careful with that, he said.

Otherwise, the government can take away some of the taxes, but BDCs will still make things difficult for us, he added.

Dr Oppong explained that the present pricing window, which began in the first week of March, had been set prior to the escalation of tensions in the Middle East.

If there should be any effect on pricing based on how prices are formulated to the BDCs, that should take effect from March 16. That is when we expect to see the price adjustments in the country, he said.