Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) set to resume crude oil refining after nearly a decade of dormancy
Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) set to resume crude oil refining after nearly a decade of dormancy.
The Corporate Affairs Officer at Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) and National Communications Team Member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Godwin Mahama, has announced that the refinery is set to resume crude oil refining operations by the end of October 2025.
This comes after nearly eight years of inactivity.
Speaking in an interview on October 13, Mr. Mahama disclosed that for about six to eight years, TOR had been largely redundant, with its main function of refining crude oil coming to a halt.
According to him, the new management team of TOR has prioritized restoring the refinery to its core mandate. The company has embarked on a comprehensive Turnaround Maintenance Project, which is now 98% complete.
“For about 6 to 8 years the refinery has been redundant it has not been functioning, the main function of refinery crude was non-existent, and for a long time we were rendering services because of the big farm tanks TOR has for storing fuel so in the absence of its core mandate they rented the tank farms for BDCs which was used to carry finished products into the country, that is what has held TOR till now.
“The new management has made it a point that the company goes back to its main core mandate by the end of this month, October. TOR will start refining Crude in this country, we have started what we call the turn-around maintenance to put all the equipment back into shape,” he said on Yɛn Nsempa Morning Show on Onua FM.
He added that Management “instituted a committee to oversee the turnaround maintenance and employed temporary staff to support the process. For the past two to three months, they have worked tirelessly, and we have achieved about 98% of the maintenance work.”
He revealed that a staff durbar held last week confirmed that the turnaround maintenance committee will hand over the plant to the production unit by this Friday. After the production team completes its final inspection, TOR will be ready to commence operations.
“Before the third week of this month, the first crude will arrive in the country, and refining will begin,” Mr. Mahama assured.
Mr. Mahama credited TOR’s revival efforts to the leadership of Managing Director Edmund Combat and the support of President John Mahama, whose administration, he said, has been keen on revitalizing the refinery.
“President Mahama has consistently reiterated that TOR must work again because when TOR works, it brings employment and strengthens our foreign exchange position,” he emphasized.
He further explained that reviving local refining will significantly reduce Ghana’s dependence on imported petroleum products.
“Currently, almost all our finished products are imported, but if TOR can meet about 60% of the local market demand, we’ll save foreign currency, strengthen the cedi, and complement the government’s economic stabilization efforts, including those by the Finance Ministry and GOLDBOD,” he added.
