State owned oil marketing company, Goil has hinted to Citi Business News plans to acquire smaller OMCs to consolidate its operations in the retail of petroleum products.
[contextly_sidebar id=”d4OZNNTbL9yxiCOyUIcWTBd2XaZo5k7Z”]The decision also comes at a time when some players in the oil and gas industry have advocated consolidation of the numerous OMCs to improve the downstream sector of the petroleum industry.
Goil contends that the fragmented nature of OMCs in the country has affected the viability of some companies and made the local market prone to take-over by foreign entities.
“The oil marketing industry in Ghana is highly fragmented; we have eighty-five OMCs operating in this small economy, so you realize that it is a very fragmented industry,” Managing Director of Goil, Patrick Akorli stated.
There are currently about eighty-five (75) OMCs operating in Ghana.
Statistics also show that Goil led its two main competitors, Shell and Total between January to May 2015, with its the market share of gasoline and gasoil for which were 16.5% and 13.5% respectively.
Patrick Akorli also tells Citi Business News his outfit will consider acquiring underperforming petroleum retailers to strengthen Goil’s competitiveness in the oil and gas industry.
“What Goil is trying to do is that we are trying to push our head and make sure we become number one and other smaller indigenous companies will come behind us because a lot of them are in distress. We don’t want to wait and allow the multinationals to come and acquire them,” he stated.
Goil is also engaging in an expansion project in the Western region to enable it engage in the sale of Marine Gas Oil.
This led to the construction of a storage facility at the Takoradi harbour.
The company has also installed three large storage tankers; two with 1200 litres capacity each and the third with a 1450 litre capacity.
With these installations, Patrick Akorli is optimistic local companies can take over the retail market and avoid dominance by foreign companies.
“It is time for us to retain fuel in Ghana and we want to ensure that those smaller indigenous oil companies who will be in distress, Goil will be able to assist them, bring them behind us so that Ghanaians can dominate this downstream market,” he further stressed.
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By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana