GOIL Gives Up Profit For Quality Fuel

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Kwame Osei Prempeh

On
Monday, February 17, 2020 a new page was opened in the sale of petroleum products
in Ghana as GOIL Energy began pumping higher petroleum products to its customers.

The
sale of higher grade petrol, the Researched Octane Number 95 (RON95), was
ushered in; thanks to a bold decision by GOIL to serve petroleum consumers in
Ghana a quality product at a cheaper price.

For
about three decades, the standard for octane rate in Ghana has been a minimum
of RON91.

The
standard was set in the 1990s, and it was agreed that the country should do a
minimum of RON91.

Octane
Number is the standard measure of the performance of an engine or aviation
fuel.

It
is believed that the higher the octane number, the more compression the fuel
can withstand before igniting.

Oil
Marketing Companies (OMCs) in Ghana have for several years been marketing
RON91, while Western nations, especially in Europe, have moved to RON95 and
RON97.

Malaysia,
for instance, is among the several Asian nations that are using RON95 and
RON97.

But
at all its fuel stations in Ghana, GOIL made the RON95 product available from
February 17, to its customers at no extra cost.

With
the introduction of the new product, GOIL is making an important statement that
it was about time consumers were served the environmentally friendly
green-colored RON95 at no extra cost.

One
would have thought that with the migration from RON91 (a less superior
petroleum product) to RON95, a higher quality product, GOIL’s fuel prices would
increase.

But
that was not the case; the petroleum giant maintained its price rather than
selling at higher prices as some oil marketers do.

Maintaining
its price was surprising to many, including journalists and the Chamber of
Petroleum Consumers Ghana (COPEC Ghana) who were on field visitation to verify
the introduction of the new product.

At
its Burma Camp GOIL station where samples of the product were displayed,
questions were asked about why it was bent on maintaining its price when it was
increasing the octane rate. Was it the case that it was exploiting consumers
and making abnormal profit with the RON91, one journalist sought to find out.

Nationwide
Distribution

As
of Saturday morning, February 22, GOIL has extended the RON95 to the northern part
of Ghana, meaning it is now covering the entire country with the superior
product.

That
was welcoming news for COPEC Ghana, energy advocacy body that was well known at
barking at OMCs for not doing the right thing.

Price Reduction

But
more welcoming for COPEC Ghana is the fact that GOIL on that Saturday morning
as it extended the supply nationwide, took a shocking decision to reduce the
pump price for the RON95 from GH¢ 5.48 to GH¢5.40, an 8 pesewas reduction.

“SuperXP
RON95 is now GH¢5.40 while Diesel will now sell at GH¢5.41,” a press release
issued by GOIL’s Public Relations Manager, Robert Kyere, said.

Praises

Duncan
Amoah, Chief Executive Officer of COPEC Ghana, was full of joy when he heard
that GOIL had reduced its prices, showering praises on the company.

With
an elated voice, Mr. Amoah said “even though they (GOIL) introduced a
superior quality product, they have also taken step to reduce prices so that
consumers are able to afford and protect their cars and their engines.”

“Like
I indicated, for every four kilometres that you might spend or use a litre of
RON91, the 95 was likely to give you about five kilometres,” he said as he
spoke about the economic benefits of RON95.

GOIL,
according to him, deserves to be praised “because if it had done wrong it
would have been chastised.”

Other OMCs Following
Suit

Mr.
Amoah revealed that other OMCs including Petrosol and Allied Oil were at
various stages of negotiation to introduce RON95; welcoming news for motorists
nationwide.

He
appealed to motorists to discriminate against OMCs that refuse to introduce
RON95 and sell at appropriate price.

BY Melvin Tarlue