Star Oil returns to COMAC and presses for changes to permanent board seats

Pinned summary · as of 17:17

Star Oil Ghana Limited has told the Chamber of Oil Marketing Companies (COMAC) that it is coming back as a member, having stayed away since January 2026. In a letter dated 1 October 2026 and signed by chief executive Philip Tieku, the company said it wants to use its return to press for a reshaped board, since the constitution, as it describes it, gives three founding companies permanent seats.

What we know

• Star Oil Ghana Limited announced that it is rejoining COMAC, the industry body of fuel marketing companies, after suspending its participation in January 2026.
• The announcement came in a letter dated 1 October 2026 to COMAC's chief executive, signed by Star Oil chief executive Philip Tieku.
• Star Oil said it had stepped back earlier this year because it doubted the chamber was looking after its members' interests.
• Mr Tieku wrote that conversations with fellow fuel marketers and other industry players, plus appeals from COMAC colleagues, made the company reconsider.
• Star Oil said it returned because the sector needs a strong, united body to speak for fuel marketers in dealings with regulators, government and other stakeholders.
• Star Oil said COMAC's constitution gives three oil marketing companies permanent board seats because they are founding members, and that it intends to use its return to push for amendments.
• The company argued that a seat held on the strength of history alone no longer suits a modern trade association, because the size, market share and investment of its members have shifted a great deal.
• Star Oil said the arrangement leaves influence with a few firms and that some permanent directors are not always represented at meetings by their top executives, a gap it said can slow the chamber's reaction to industry problems.
• The company is calling for board representatives to be chosen through an open, democratic process that is renewed at set intervals.

What's disputed / unconfirmed

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  Chale News described Star Oil's return as the end of a nine-month boycott; the other reports give only the January 2026 suspension and the October letter.
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  MyJoyOnline and Chale News reported that Star Oil described its return as a commitment to work with other members so that COMAC becomes more representative and responsive; this was not carried in the earlier report.
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  Chale News reported that COMAC is at odds with the Finance Ministry over fuel importers' new customs regime, and gave the ministry 14 days to suspend a new customs rule. This has not been confirmed elsewhere.
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  COMAC said, according to Chale News, that the customs rule shifts the burden of fuel enforcement onto fuel marketers and, ultimately, motorists. Chale News added that the outcome of the ultimatum had not been reported and that the ministry had not publicly responded.
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  Chale News noted that COMAC has set out no schedule for answering Star Oil's reform demands.

Why it matters for Ghana

Fuel marketing companies supply the stations that Ghanaian motorists, transport operators and businesses rely on, and COMAC is the body that speaks for many of them when dealing with regulators and government. How its board is chosen affects whose views carry weight in those talks. If members take up the company's proposals, the makeup of the table where those talks happen would change.