Ghana halts production at Tema Refinery in favour of products imports like Nigeria?
There are strong indications that refining activities at Ghana’s national refinery at Tema over what observers claim as favouring products import considering operational cost.
Business Hilights Ghana Bureau chief reports that the Tema Oil Refinery in Ghana has a capacity to refine 45,000 barrels per day (bpd) and can produce petrol, kerosene, aviation fuel, Naptha and LPG, but in the last one month, it has failed to refine anything as imported products, just like Nigeria, flood everywhere.
With the narrow-thought out development, a lot of research and development are put on hold, capacity growth suspended and multiplier effects of functioning refinery dashed.
For more than a decade, Nigerian known oil refineries have not produced reasonably even as the successive governments continue to import products with even rising OPEC export quota and exemptions from certain OPEC cuts due to restiveness that has since dropped.
An industry expert in Accra confided in our correspondent that “Ghana produces oil from its jubilee fields but prefers to sell the crude and import refined products”.
The reasons adduced for the substitution according to the expert may not be too far from the steady rise in global oil prices with the aim of getting more money in the short-term.
However, to keep the refinery workers quiet, investigations showed that they are paid all their allowances as at when due even though they mostly do nothing.
Currently, the tank farm in the refinery has been converted to storage facilities for Bulk Distribution Companies (BDCs) who import petrol.
