TOR to start operations on Thursday
Tema, June 16, Ghanadot/GNA – The
Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) would resume operations on Thursday
June 18 after its shutdown for maintenance, the Deputy
Managing Director of the Refinery, Dr Ali Abugri, has said.
Dr Abugri said even though maintenance work carried out on
the Crude Distribution Unit early this year, the unit was
shut down due to lack of crude oil.
He said this when members of the Parliamentary Select
Committee on Mines and Energy paid a working visit to the
refinery.
Dr Bugri said maintenance work on the Residual Fluid
Catalyser Cracker was extended after the initial repairs
when it was realized that some critical parts also needed
attention.
Dr Kwame Ampofo, Acting Managing Director of TOR, said TOR
was determined to change public impression about its
operations within 18 months.
“We are determined that within 18 months the story about TOR
would be different from what we now hear in the news.”
He called on the parliamentarians to monitor the refinery’s
operation and back management to enable TOR discharge its
operations.
The management team of TOR revealed that some Oil Managing
Companies (OMCs) who buy their products on credit from the
refinery do not pay at the scheduled time.
Management said apart from the OMCs, some national security
services that buy fuel directly from the refinery also owe
the company with some owing for about two years.
Mr Moses Asaga, Chairman of the Committee, said the visit
was to equip members on the technicalities of the operations
of the refinery to enable them push through any bills on
loans for the company’s expansion.
Mr Asaga called on the Quality Control Division of the
refinery to ask for samples of the oil discovered in the
country from the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC)
for testing to know the specification of the Ghana’s crude
oil.
He said doing so would enable the refinery to position
itself better in preparing to refine the country’s oil as
well as be the preferred refinery in West Africa.
GNA
