PRIVATE petrol-station owners yesterday said they would take drastic measures, if oil companies continued to build their own outlets, as this was putting them at a disadvantage compared to the fuel giants.

The president of the petrol station owners’ association, Bambinos Charalambous, said the companies had been given one month’s notice to reply on whether they intended to open new stations. If they fail to do so, he added, “we will respond dynamically”.

Charalambous also called on the Price Observatory Body to wait a few days after the companies announce price cuts before checking petrol stations, as they need a grace period to get rid of their reserves.

“For example, we received 36,000 litres on Thursday, while the companies sent us a message on Friday that prices would go down,” Charalambous explained. “But the stations had already filled up for the weekend. So they need to wait a few days for the tanks to empty and then bring the prices down, with the new load.”

But he pointed out that petrol stations were at a disadvantage; especially compared to oil companies that had their own stations.

“So if a company decides to lower its prices and offers cheaper fuel at its own stations, there will be a difference in prices among stations. The Observatory Body needs to understand this,” said Charalambous.

“The only solution is for the price observatories to check stations four to five days after the prices have dropped,” he added.

Charalambous added that if companies didn’t stop building their own stations, the association would take dynamic measures. “We have given companies one month’s warning, that if they continue to build stations we will take measures. They have a month to tell us that they will stop building petrol stations.”