Star Oil denies hoarding as fuel shortages hit stations

Star Oil has attributed fuel shortages at some of its stations to a technical challenge with the Ghana Revenue Authority’s ICUMS system, rejecting claims of hoarding.

In a notice to customers, the company said the situation was not the result of oil marketing companies holding back products in anticipation of price increases.

The statement explained that the disruption followed a public holiday on Friday, which delayed the planned lifting of petroleum products the next day.

“You may have noticed that some of our fuel stations have begun running out of fuel. We would like to assure you that this is not due to any hoarding in anticipation of a price increase,” the company said.

According to Star Oil, although arrangements had been made to load petroleum products on Saturday, the Ghana Revenue Authority’s Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS) experienced technical difficulties throughout the day.

The company noted that the outage prevented oil marketing companies from processing the documentation required to lift products from depots.

“Although we planned to lift petroleum products on Saturday, the GRA ICUMS system was down throughout the day, preventing all OMCs from processing the necessary documentation to load products,” the statement explained.

Star Oil indicated that it had hoped the technical challenge would be resolved by Monday, March 9, but the system issues were still ongoing and affecting operations across the petroleum distribution chain.

“We had hoped the issue would be resolved by Monday 9th March 2026, but the technical difficulties with ICUMS are still ongoing, and this is affecting the entire industry,” the company said.

The firm added that its stations were particularly vulnerable to such disruptions because of their high sales volumes relative to storage capacity.

“Because Star Oil stations record some of the highest sales per location relative to underground tank capacity, situations like this tend to affect us more quickly than others,” the company stated.

It further assured customers that it was monitoring the situation and would move quickly to restore supply once the system challenge was resolved.

“We are closely monitoring the situation, and once the ICUMS system is restored, we will immediately resume lifting and restocking all affected stations,” the company said.

The development comes at a time when global oil markets are experiencing significant volatility. International crude prices surged on March 9 to their highest levels since 2022 amid escalating tensions in the Middle East.

Brent crude briefly approached $120 per barrel before retreating to trade between $104 and $107 by midday, representing a sharp increase of more than 12 per cent.

West Texas Intermediate crude also climbed to about $102 to $103 per barrel, reflecting gains of roughly 12 to 14 per cent.

Market analysts say the spike reflects fears of supply disruptions linked to the conflict, although prices eased slightly after reports that G7 countries may consider releasing emergency oil reserves to stabilise the market.

Against this backdrop, Star Oil emphasised that the shortages at its stations were purely the result of logistical constraints linked to the ICUMS system outage rather than market speculation or stockpiling by the company.