The Centre for Environmental Management and Sustainable Energy (CEMSE) has disclosed that Star Oil pays its fuel attendants a monthly salary of GHS 2,000, significantly higher than the GHS 800 reportedly paid by some of its major competitors
“Scrapping the price floor would compel companies to become more efficient and adopt innovative measures to eliminate revenue leakages. This would increase revenues, create additional fiscal space, and enable firms to improve employee wages. Star Oil appears to have adopted this approach by effectively blocking revenue loopholes, allowing it to pay its workers competitively while maintaining competitive fuel prices.” Nsia said
According to the Executive Director of CEMSE, Mr. Benjamin Nsiah, Star Oil currently offers the highest remuneration to fuel attendants among the five leading Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) in the country. He noted that earnings could increase further through monthly sales target incentives, which range between GHS 500 and GHS 1,000.
CEMSE explained that one of the main justifications often cited for the introduction of a price floor in the downstream petroleum sector is to prevent predatory pricing, where larger firms temporarily reduce prices to drive competitors out of the market. However, the think tank argues that there is no evidence of predatory pricing practices in Ghana’s fuel market.
Contrary to prevailing assumptions, CEMSE observed that several OMCs operating on lower pricing margins are also among the highest-paying employers in the industry. The organisation attributed lower fuel prices more to decent employee wages, operational efficiency, and competitive business strategies, rather than deliberate attempts to monopolise the market.
The think tank cautioned that the implementation of price floors could undermine efficiency, innovation, and customer service improvements within the sector. Drawing on global experience, CEMSE noted that such policies often lead to price uniformity, discourage investment in cost-saving technologies, and stifle innovation.
CEMSE further warned that low-cost fuel marketers, including EV Oil and Trugreen Petroleum, which reportedly sell petrol at below GHS 10 per litre, could be forced out of the market if the price floor policy is maintained. This, the organisation said, could reduce market diversity and consumer choice, and over time entrench an oligopolistic market structure where prices become less responsive to supply and demand dynamics or external shocks.