The Minister of State at the Energy Ministry, Herbert Krapah has pledged President Nana Akufo-Addo’s commitment to let Tema Oil Refinery work again before his tenure of office end.
Mr Krapa confirmed that plans are far advanced to secure a strategic investor for the company.
Currently, the refinery operates at about 45,000 barrels per stream day, well below its capacity due to a lack of investment.
The minister of state in charge of Energy Mr Herbert Krapa made this revelation known during a familiarisation tour of TOR, Sentuo Oil Refinery Limited and Tropical Cable and Conductor Limited in Tema.
He was accompanied by the Chief Director of the Ministry Wilhelmina Asamoah, the Deputy Chief Executive Officers of the National Petroleum Authority Ghana, Perry Curtis Kwabla Okudzeto and Linda Asante and the various Directors and Heads of Department from the Ministry.
Mr Krapa who was very confident with the assurance from the president confirmed the TOR would work again under our watch. We have plans still, and I know that there are some discussions ongoing with a strategic investment should not be an event; there is work that we need to do that would culminate into this strategic investment.
The Managing Director of TOR, Kofi Tagoe Mocumbi, believes successful negotiations with a new investor will revive the company’s fortunes, with the Crude Dissolution Unit coming back to life within three months, TOR will be running at 60,000 per stream day and we will be looking toward expanding the plant into a 100,000 stream day.
The Managing Director for Tropical Cable Mr Dominik Klotzbach for his part expressed concerns over unfair competition and urged government intervention.
He added that Ghana needs to be protected against sub-standard imports, subsidized imports and also have access to the same resources as our competitors in other countries.
If we have a level playing field, then we can also compete with the same quality at the same cost in the same market so that when the profits are realized then the company can support various government social intervention policies so that Ghana will be strong again.
The Minister of State at the Energy Ministry, Herbert Krapa assured that the government is committed to addressing concerns about unfair competition from imports.
