Chairman of the Chamber of Oil Marketing Companies (COMAC), Gabriel Kumi, has defended the petroleum price floor, insisting that the policy was not imposed by the industry’s largest players.
Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express, Business Edition on Thursday, he clarified that the recent emergency meeting of the Chamber was not triggered by Star Oil’s suspension.
“Let me correct this, the emergency meeting we had on Thursday was not as a result of the fact that Star Oil has been suspended.
“Star pulled out on Wednesday, and we had planned this emergency meeting since Monday,” he said.
He explained that scheduling challenges led to the meeting being held on Thursday.
“Some of our members were even suggesting we had the meeting on Monday or Tuesday, but some of us had travelled out of town, and we wanted everybody to get it, so we checked and Thursday morning… we pushed it to Thursday morning,” he said.
Mr Kumi dismissed claims in the media that the meeting was intended to reverse Star Oil’s decision.
“Certain publications said this meeting was a result of the fact that Star Oil had pulled out. It was not. We were not going to call the meeting to bring Star in,” he said.
He said the Chamber convened the board because tensions over market competition were escalating.
“We saw the competition was getting a bit nasty, so we wanted to meet the two of them. Fortunately, both GOIL and Star are members of the board, so it was quite easy for us to bring the board together and trash that issue out,” he said.
He acknowledged that personal attacks during the discussions contributed to Star Oil’s reaction.
“Along the line, I think the personal attacks got a little bit intensified, and Star reacted by suspending itself,” he said.
Mr Kumi described Thursday’s meeting as tough but said it ended with a clear outcome.
“At the end of the day, we resolved that the position of the Chamber, which is to support the price floor, should be maintained, and we made overtures to bring Star Oil back,” he said.
He said a small team has already been tasked with engaging Star Oil to restore its membership.
“Immediately, we put a team together to try to engage Star Oil. Not a committee, just a few of us who have been tasked to engage Star Oil and get them back to the Chamber,” he added.
The emergency meeting and COMAC’s firm stance come amid ongoing debate over the petroleum price floor, a policy introduced to curb destructive undercutting among oil marketing companies.
Star Oil’s suspension has intensified scrutiny of the Chamber’s efforts to maintain unity and support the regulatory measure.
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