President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has been urged to intervene to save the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) from closure by the Institute of Energy Security (IES).
According to the IES, TOR is currently beset by massive debts, poor management, and other issues that must be addressed promptly.
"While the price of a gallon of diesel approaches Gh60, the Institute for Energy Security (IES) wishes to put President H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on notice that "the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) is still in coma, requiring his urgent intervention to save the State facility, which is saddled with over Gh400 million debt, from total collapse," according to a statement released by IES on Thursday June 16.
"The refinery sits idle and hopeless after nearly six years of poor management of this vital State institution, losing out on the prospects of the Russian-Ukraine conflict, as well as the potential of generating that synergy between the upstream and downstream sectors of the Ghanaian petroleum industry."
"Despite the fact that the pandemic's global economic crisis and the Russian-Ukraine war provide an opportunity for the country's petroleum sector to grasp possibilities in the petroleum value chain, TOR lies idle, rusting away."
The complete statement is below...
TO SAVE THE TEMA OIL REFINERY (TOR) FROM DEAD COLLAPSE, THE PRESIDENT MUST INTERVENE.
While the price of a gallon of diesel approaches Gh60, the Institute for Energy Security (IES) wishes to inform President H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo that "the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) remains in a coma, requiring his urgent intervention to save the State facility, which is saddled with over Gh400 million debt, from total collapse."
The refinery stands inert and gloomy after nearly six years of terrible management, missing out on the prospects of the Russian-Ukraine war, as well as the potential of building synergy between the upstream and downstream sectors of the Ghanaian petroleum industry.
Despite the fact that the global economic crisis caused by the epidemic, as well as the Russian-Ukraine war, gives a chance for cooperation, the petroleum industry of the country to take advantage of possibilities in the petroleum value chain, TOR is dormant, rusting away.
Over time, successive refinery managements and boards have utterly failed to provide the vital leadership required to maintain and grow the refinery; this was especially true when the current government inherited a refinery that had cracked approximately 7 million barrels of crude between mid-2015 and the end of 2016.
A combination of weak sales and buy agreements, poor facility maintenance, capacity under-utilization, operational inefficiencies, under-investment, negligence, and unclear policies has shattered any expectation that the refinery could continue to operate without interruption and economically.
The refinery has failed to play any meaningful role in controlling gasoline price and supply issues at a time when the country most needs it. While there are pockets of gasoline shortages, the price of petrol has nearly quadrupled in the last six and a half years, causing inflationary pressures across the economy, as Ghanaians would confirm.
Unfortunately, Energy Minister Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh is ignorant, unable to offer a single strategic idea to help TOR recover from its current state while shouting for a new refinery. Rather, it is believed that the Minister is unwilling to cooperate with TOR's management and board choices and strategic orientations, a circumstance that would almost certainly result in another round of leadership failure at the State refinery.
The Energy Minister has failed to give the leadership required to restore TOR after a year and a half in office. To put it plainly, the Minister has failed to provide a solution.
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