Page 12 - DMEA Week 11 2021

DMEA REFINING DMEA

Ghanaian energy minister

pledges support for Tema

AFRICA GHANA’S Energy Minister last week pledged to exporting crude from Ghana that has been
support the country’s struggling Tema Oil Refin- refined”, adding that refining crude domestically
ery (TOR) and gave a unifying call to workers. is “where the money is to be made”.
Visiting the 45,000 barrel per day (bpd) facil- Ghana’s previous administration regularly
ity, Matthew Opoku Prempeh said “TOR is not blamed the refinery’s dilapidation on its prede-
in a healthy state”, referring to efforts to bring it cessors, under which three cycles of turnaround
back to capacity following an explosion at its dis- maintenance had been missed.
tillation unit in early 2017. Ghana National Petroleum Corp.’s (GNPC)
He said that Accra has no intention of scrap- financial condition is contributing to and com-
ping the facility; instead it would call on the pri- pounding TOR’s operational deficiencies. The
vate sector to support it in turning TOR into one state firm remains heavily indebted and in June
of the best refineries in West Africa. The failure 2018 was forced to shut down owing to its inabil-
of previous efforts to reinvigorate the unit offers ity to finance crude imports.
little comfort, but a distinct lack of competition Despite efforts to upgrade and add to down-
in the region makes it a possibility. stream capacity, the government’s record in
However, he sought to assuage any concerns, securing private investment in the refining sector
noting that inviting private sector participation is poor. An agreement under discussion in 2014
“does not mean [the president] wants the pub- with little-known Riyadh-based PetroSaudi that
lic sector to collapse. TOR is a strategic national called for the company to take a strategic stake
asset … we will make sure it goes from strength in TOR and invest in the plant’s upgrade and
to strength”, Prempeh added. expansion likewise collapsed.
The 56-year-old facility near Accra has been PetroSaudi had no experience in the sec-
operating at less than half of its nameplate capac- tor and has recently attracted attention for its
ity over the past four years. involvement in Malaysia’s multi-billion dollar
Prempeh said: “We want to see TOR 1MDB corruption scandal.™

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 11 18•March•2021