The Chamber of Oil Marketing Companies (COMAC) has disclosed its intention to engage Star Oil Limited in an effort to resolve differences and restore dialogue after the oil marketing company suspended its membership of the Chamber.

According to them, the board led by its Chairman has already activated internal procedures aimed at engaging Star Oil and encouraging the company to reconsider its decision. He explained that the Board exists precisely to ensure that industry-wide decisions are reached through consultation rather than unilateral action.

Speaking on Citi Eyewitness News on Wednesday, January 21, COMAC’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr Riverson Oppong, said the Chamber is taking steps to reopen discussions with Star Oil, stressing that divergent positions on industry issues do not make the parties adversaries.

“We will have an engagement with Star Oil. There are procedures the Board Chairman has put in place to engage Star Oil to reconsider,” he said, adding that managing the interests of more than 200 oil marketing companies requires balancing differing perspectives while safeguarding the collective interest of the industry.

Dr Oppong acknowledged that disagreements are inevitable within such a diverse body but emphasised that they should not be interpreted as hostility. “Our interests might be at loggerheads, but that does not make us enemies,” he stated.

He further revealed that COMAC is scheduled to hold a board meeting to deliberate on the issue, expressing personal disappointment that Star Oil chose to suspend its membership rather than continue to advance its concerns through the Chamber’s governance structures.

“I personally wish Star Oil had remained within the Chamber to represent its interests at the board so that we could all make a decision together,” he added.

Star Oil Limited earlier announced that it had suspended its membership of COMAC with immediate effect, a decision that has drawn attention across the downstream petroleum sector.