The Chairman of the Chamber of Oil Marketing Companies (COMAC) says the emergency board meeting held on Thursday was not called because of Star Oil’s decision to suspend its membership.

Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express, Business Edition on Thursday, Gabriel Kumi said reports linking the meeting directly to Star Oil’s exit were inaccurate.

“Let me correct this. The emergency meeting we had on Thursday was not a result of the fact that Star Oil has been suspended,” he said.

Star Oil announced its suspension from COMAC on Wednesday, citing concerns over how the Association has handled the ongoing debate on the petroleum price floor.

The move heightened tensions within the downstream petroleum sector and sparked speculation that the Chamber had convened the meeting in response.

Mr Kumi said planning for the meeting began days earlier. “Star pulled out on Wednesday, and we had planned this emergency meeting since Monday,” he said.

He explained that scheduling challenges delayed the meeting, not Star Oil's actions.

“We wanted this meeting to have a full house,” he said. “Some of our members were suggesting we had the meeting on Monday or Tuesday, but some of us had travelled out of town.”

He said efforts to hold the meeting earlier did not work. “We checked on Wednesday. It wasn’t working properly, so we pushed it to Thursday morning,” he said.

Mr Kumi said media reports misrepresented the purpose of the meeting.

“I’ve seen certain publications in the media that this meeting was a result of the fact that Star had pulled out. It was not that,” he said.

He stressed that the meeting was not convened to force Star Oil back into the Chamber. “It was not that we were going to call the meeting to bring Star in,” he said.

According to him, the real trigger was growing tension within the industry. “That meeting had been planned because we saw that the competition was getting a bit nasty,” he said.

He said COMAC wanted to intervene before the situation escalated further. “We wanted to meet the two of them,” he said.

Mr Kumi noted that both GOIL and Star Oil sit on the COMAC board, making engagement easier.

“Fortunately for us, both GOIL and Star are members of the board, so it was quite easy for us to bring the board together and trash that issue out,” he said.

He said tensions later escalated beyond commercial rivalry. “Along the line, I think the personal attacks got a little bit intensified, and Star reacted by suspending itself,” he said.

As a result, the Chamber proceeded with the meeting as planned.

“So we had to have the meeting this morning,” he said. Mr Kumi described the meeting as difficult.

“And I must say, it was quite a tough meeting,” he said. He said the Chamber emerged with a clear position.

“At the end of the day, we resolved that the position of the Chamber, which is to support the price floor, should be maintained,” he said.

He added that efforts are already underway to engage Star Oil. “We make overtures to bring Star Oil back,” he said.

He said a small team has been tasked with the engagement.

“Immediately, we put a team together to try and engage Star Oil,” he said. “Not a committee, but just a few of us who have been tasked to engage Star Oil and get him back to the Chamber.”