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The Tema Oil Refinery has a throughput capacity of 45,000 bpd (Image: TOR)

These companies have resources that TOR Accra to specify when the project might be
needs to overhaul its physical plant and increase completed. “We are happy that he’s now indicat-
utilisation levels, and Accra intends to choose a ing that there are plans to fix it. Timelines will
strategic partner to help restructure the oil-pro- need to be given so the people can at least hold
cessing plant, he said. authorities accountable for this,” Amoah told
“At the moment, I know the Ministry of Citi Business News.
Energy is receiving proposals from potential
strategic investors for the restructuring,” Cudjoe Refining domestic production
told GNA. “And so we are looking at that win- In related news, TOR workers asserted last week
dow where these strategic investors will bring that Ghana’s government should require crude
in the necessary funds, the necessary techni- oil from the offshore Jubilee field to be processed
cal technologies and so on for it to operate as at the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), the Ghanaian
expected ... So that is the restructuring plan.” Times reported.
Ghana’s government is determined to pro- Workers argued that the refinery was capa-
tect and maintain TOR’s assets even though the ble of turning out enough petroleum products
plant is not operating at its full design capacity of to meet 60% of local demand. They also asserted
45,000 barrels per day (bpd), he added. Officials that producing fuels domestically would help
in Accra do not see expenditures for such pur- significantly reduce the amount of money
poses as wasteful, he commented. paid to the petroleum distribution companies
“When you have a building, dilapidated, sit- (PDCs) that import refined fuels into Ghana.
ting there and people are stealing furniture, glass Bright Adongo, chairman of the Senior Staff
louvres, will you put a security man [there] and Union of TOR, told the Times that capital-in-
pay him even though the building is not bring- tensive petroleum product importation leads
ing you rents? Will you do that? If you will do to high fuel prices at the pump. Raising capac-
that, then you use the same to measure what is ity utilisation at TOR would help bring prices
happening at the Tema Oil Refinery,” he said. down while also generating additional revenues
Cudjoe was speaking shortly after Dun- for state coffers, he said.
can Amoah, the executive secretary of a local Adongo also pointed out that TOR had
industry association known as the Chamber of started refining oil even before Ghana discov-
Petroleum Consumers Ghana (COPEC), hailed ered its own reserves. As such, he said, there is
President Nana Akufo-Addo’s announcement no reason why the plant should be idle now that
of plans for the rehabilitation of TOR and urged the country has commercial crude resources. ™

Tower Resources shelves original

version of Thali farm-out plan

CAMEROON AIM-LISTED Tower Resources has revised its In a statement dated May 9, Tower said Cam-
plans for financing work on the NJOM-3 well at eroon’s Ministry of Mines, Industry and Tech-
Thali, an offshore block in the Rio del Rey basin, nological Development (MINMIDT) had not
while waiting for Cameroon’s government to yet approved the farm-out plan submitted last
give a green light to a farm-out deal with Nige- September, under which Beluga was slated to
ria’s Beluga Energy. acquire a 49% stake in Thali for $15mn.

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