Former Deputy Energy Minister, John Jinapor, says under proper leadership the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) should be able to process in excess of 100,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
Speaking at the Energy Manifesto Dialogue Organised by the Institute for Energy Security (IES), Mr Jinapor indicated that the NDC government has the know-how to get TOR back on its feet.
He stated that “By the time we were leaving office, BOST had over 8 weeks of strategic reserves. You are aware of the challenges BOST has gone through since we left office. We would invest in BOST, reposition it and ensure that it serves its mandate by serving the people of Ghana. We were able to procure two million barrels of crude oil from the TEN fields for TOR because of our attempt to add value to our crude oil we do not believe that we should just take the crude oil and export it, and so we experimented and took a bold decision to give TOR about two million barrels of crude oil. Unfortunately, when the NPP assumed office, those fuel were sold. When we assume office, we will reposition BOST. We believe that TOR can serve us. TOR processes about 65,000 barrels of crude oil a day. We want to scale it up to about a hundred thousand barrels minimum. Because in this petroleum refinery business, economies of scale and the quantities also matters. We will efficiently run that company and if there is the need, we will involve the private sector through a very transparent process.”
TOR is Ghana’s first and only refinery with the capacity to produce about 45,000 barrels per day but things haven’t being going on well with the company.
Its operations have become inconsistent following the frequent shutdown of its processing plants mainly due to lack of capital to regularly procure crude oil.
