At a time Nigeria is decrying continued importation of petroleum products due to collapsed state of all four refineries, the case is different in Ghana as the only local refinery, the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) continues to cry for crude to refine upon working to installed capacity.
In an interview with Business Hilights Ghana Bureau chief, Managing Director of TOR, Mr Isaac Osei, decried that “Time has come for the country’s refinery to be allowed to refine portions of Ghana’s crude oil for the local market instead of selling all on the international market.
At the moment, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) sells all of the country’s oil on the international market while TOR shops around for crude oil to refine into finished products for local consumption.
Osei argued that “The situation did not give Ghanaians the confidence and excitement they were supposed to have following Ghana’s discovery of oil in commercial quantities,”.
Noting that “The people of Ghana would better appreciate the real benefits of the recent discoveries of crude oil in Ghana when a percentage of the locally discovered crude oil was refined by the state owned Tema Oil Refinery.”
“For many Ghanaians, this is a paradox that government has to resolve. Ghana has discovered crude oil in commercial quantities and this should translate into the state refinery being provided a portion of such crude as its feedstock.
Continuing, Osei averred that “The people of Ghana and government as a whole would benefit a great deal and the government’s agenda of Ghana Without Aid would be given additional boost it the right structures are put in place and TOR is made to refine local crude oil from TEN, Jubilee and or Sankofa fields as feed stock.”
According to him, “TOR had refined several barrels of crude in the past which gave Ghana good yields in terms of finished products so refining crude oil from Jubilee and Sankofa should not be a problem for the Refinery.
Business Hilights recalls that TOR’s boilers were designed to process light sweet crude which is drilled in Ghana.
