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Stiff competition puts OMCs under pressure

Business News of Saturday, 19 October 2019

Source: Graphic.com.gh

2019-10-19

Stiff FuelManaging Director of Radiance Petroleum Limited dispensing fuel at the Darkuman Service Station

The profit margins of most indigenous Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) are currently dwindling following intense competition presented by the petroleum product price deregulation, the Managing Director (MD) of Radiance Petroleum Limited, Mr Emmanuel Pobee, has indicated.

The competition, he said, coupled with other operational factors, was bringing a lot of financial pressure and threatening the continuous survival of these OMCs.

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In an interview with the Daily Graphic during the company’s customer service week at its fuel service station at Darkuman, Accra on October 9, Mr Pobee said the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) should take a look at the challenges the deregulation of the petroleum sector, which allowed companies to fix their own prices at the pumps, had presented.

Deregulation

The NPA, which is the regulator of the downstream petroleum sector in Ghana, in 2015, announced that OMCs would now fix their own ex-pump prices for petroleum products in the country as part of the petroleum deregulation policy.

That, according to the NPA, as a first step towards the implementation of the full Petroleum Product Price deregulation.

But, Mr Pobee observed that it was important for the regulator to take stock of the implementation of the deregulation policy to ensure that indigenous OMCs did not sink.

He said the regulator was aware of the challenges that OMCs were facing, hence there was the need to take a second look at the policy.

Customer service week

On the customer service week celebration, the MD said management of the company was giving away some gifts to customers.

Some of the give aways, he said, consisted of fuel top-ups, T-shirts and many other rewards to customers who visited the station across the country.

He observed that in an era where business growth was directly linked to customer satisfaction, being able to meet and exceed the needs of a company’s clients through excellent customer service was very crucial to the survival of the business.

“However, meeting and exceeding the customer’s expectation requires that the company in question identifies and familiarises itself with the basic desires of the customer whose interest fuels the growth of the business.”

As a result, he stated that the week celebration would see staff being reminded about the importance of the customer to the growth of the company.

“Customers should expect more fuel, value for money, a friendly oil marketing company and also an experience of our motto; You deserve the best fuel,” he added.

The customer service week which was celebrated at all Radiance Fuel Stations across the country lasted from Monday, October 7 to Friday, October 11, 2019.

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