Discussions between Ghana and the governments of Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea are far advanced aimed at getting crude oil supplies on concessionary basis to officially operationalize the activities of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR).
The sector Minister of Energy, Mr. John Peter Amewu will this month lead government’s delegations to the two countries to finalize the process of the discussions in anticipation of getting crude from one of the countries.
This activity is one of the key strategies tabled to re-strategize and strengthen the operations of TOR as it prepares to resume full operations by the third quarter of the year.
Another possible strategy tabled by government and the various stakeholders in the sector is that they would resolve to allocate Ghana’s share of the revenues from the Tweneboa Enyenra Ntomme (TEN) Oil Field to TOR.
It is expected that the revenue that would be realized from the operations would be used to capitalize the Refinery in order to make it capable of getting constant crude oil supply.
Additionally, since building the capacity of TOR to ensure greater efficiency cannot be financed by government alone, there are ongoing discussions between the Ministries of Energy and Finance regarding this process with a view to attracting private investment.
The discussions are geared toward bringing private sector participants who would take up shares and make considerable investment in the company. This is yet to be made a certain government policy, but it is believed the discussions between the two ministries are progressing steadily.
Speaking to the Goldstreet Business during yesterday’s meet the press event, the Managing Director of TOR, Mr. Isaac Osei, said the government does not oppose bringing in private equity partners to invest in the sector.
“Tentatively, the government is not averse to private sector participation who will take up shares and make investments including an oversight hydro treater who will take care of the regulations regarding sulphur content”, he reiterated.
Finally, to revamp the activities and operations of TOR, government has declared its intent to mobilize capital, to the tune of about US$200 million to this effect.
The Refinery has the capacity to refine 45,000 barrels per stream day (bpsd). The refinery is also working to raise its installed capacity to 60,000 bpsd to help meet national consumption and also export any excess.
Aside this, the company wants to bring in a foreign technical and financial partner to build a modular unit of about 40,000 bpsd, bringing the entire capacity to 100,000 bpsd.
By Dundas Whigham
