The Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) is poised to fully resume operations by October 2025, a crucial step that officials believe will greatly lessen Ghana’s reliance on imported refined petroleum products.
In a presentation to Parliament’s Energy Committee, TOR’s Acting Managing Director, Edmund Kombat, shared that Ghana currently spends around $400 million each month on fuel imports.
With TOR back in operation, he highlighted the potential to reduce that expenditure by over 50%.
“We spend $400 million every month importing refined petroleum products. When TOR is running, we will need less than 60% of that money to import refined petroleum products,” Kombat told the committee.
He detailed that TOR has a nameplate capacity of 45,000 barrels per stream day, and with the installation of a new furnace, this capacity has increased to 60,000 barrels daily.
Given Ghana’s daily demand sits at approximately 100,000 barrels, the refinery could potentially satisfy between 45% and 60% of local needs.
Kombat clarified that TOR’s closure in 2021 was not due to operational shortcomings but a lack of crude oil supply.
“The refinery is a profitable enterprise; it is capable of refining. There have been many turnaround maintenance works that have taken place at the refinery. The reason it was shut down in 2021 was actually because of a lack of crude,” he emphasised.
To facilitate the recovery, TOR has formed a Turnaround Maintenance Committee, chaired by the General Manager of Maintenance and overseen by the Deputy Managing Director.
This committee meets weekly to ensure progress towards full restoration.“From the timeline that we are seeing, between September and October, we should get the CDU [Crude Distillation Unit] back on stream,” he added.
Kombat also brought to light that TOR has not had its financial statements audited since 2019, but steps are being taken to rectify this.
“Another key thing is that for the past six years, the refinery has not had audited accounts since 2019. We’ve brought in external auditors and they are busily working. We are hoping that by next month, we’ll have all six audited accounts to present to SIGA and also give copies to members of the committee,” he stated.
Looking forward, TOR’s plan for 2025 includes efforts to revive its secondary unit, the Residue Fluid Catalytic Cracker (RFCC), by December or early next year, which Kombat referred to as TOR’s “cash cow,” capable of producing high-value items like premium gasoline and LPG.
“The CDU is easier to bring on stream. The RFCC may come around December or early next year, but the CDU will be on stream between September and October. Our target is ambitious, but achievable,” he concluded.
He appealed to Parliament to support TOR’s revitalisation efforts.
“It’s the people’s refinery, and we are praying that you add your voices to get this plant back”.
