The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) is urging fuel consumers to remain price sensitive and buy from oil marketing companies offering relatively lower prices as ex-pump prices are set to rise in the second pricing window of March due to escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
Executive Secretary of COPEC, Duncan Amoah, in an interview on Channel One Newsroom stressed that consumers still have the power to influence pricing behavior among oil marketing companies by choosing stations that maintain relatively competitive prices.
With petroleum product prices projected to increase, Duncan Amoah noted that motorists and households must actively compare pump prices and patronize outlets that offer better value.
He explains that while some filling stations may significantly increase prices during periods of market volatility, others may attempt to moderate their margins to remain competitive.
“Some stations will give you reasonable prices. Others will go for the juggler. A rational consumer is one that goes for their quantity, their quality, and is getting it at the right price and so they should still be mindful. If you realize some of the stations are quite friendly, even in such difficult times and are still giving you efficient prices, please work with them because that is the only power that consumers do have in the country. That is the only way we communicate either our happiness or disgust at prices that we deem too high. So tomorrow [March 16], if you check one station is too high, the next station is reasonable to your pocket, use them.
“So long as you and I have not been told those stations are selling bad fuel, it will be presumed that the NPA would have checked them. Let us be price sensitive. Let us continue to exercise that power as consumers so that together we can also force some of the OMCs that may even be interested in going for profits in this difficult time to go down on prices for all of us,” Duncan Amoah remarked.
According to projections by the Chamber of Oil Marketing Companies, ex-pump prices of petrol, diesel and liquefied petroleum gas are expected to increase by about 16.93 percent, 17.21 percent and 11.26 percent respectively.
The anticipated increases are largely being driven by a surge in global crude oil prices, following escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and disruptions to key maritime oil transit routes, particularly the Strait of Hormuz, which have tightened global supply and pushed international petroleum prices higher.
