Monday, July 7, 2014

Energy minister directs TOR to ‘get back on track’



http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=315618


The Minister of Energy and Petroleum, Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, has directed the Tema Oil refinery (TOR), to revert to its core mandate of refining crude oil to meet current demands.

TOR, a state owned oil refinery has over the years been saddled with debts, and operational inefficiencies leading to low production capacity. Speaking at the inauguration of its new board, Minister of Energy and Petroleum, Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah directed members to get the defunct refinery back on track.

“We must get Tema Oil refinery to work and that is your job. Let me state this clearly, the job of Tema Oil refinery is to refine crude. It is not to operate a crude procurement facility. If you look at the history, TOR was focused on processing crude for the state and the country’s product requirement was met by TOR. Mainly from 80 percent, it came down and down until it went to zero.”

“See what happened in the last few weeks. It is very clear that the state oil refinery must take the leading role in making sure that it supplies products. That is the objective.” There have been reports of a possible sale of the refinery following its poor performance.

But Armah Kofi Buah dismisses the reports, he adds that the Tema Oil refinery will not be sold under the presidency of John Mahama. “As we speak, we have gone back to the original strategy. You have just a marketing partnership with PetroSaudi and has nothing to do with our refinery.” Let me make this clear”, he stressed “Tema Oil Refinery is not for sale and it will never be for sale under the watch of President Mahama.”

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