The total debt stock of Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) has reached $517 million as of December 2024 as the new management hints of returing the strategic national entity to full operations by October 2025.
TOR has been shutdown for a very long time due to lack of crude even though the country currently spends approximately $400 million monthly on fuel imports.
Acting Managing Director of TOR, Edmund Kombat who revealed this in an interview with Journalists following a meetiong with the Energy Committee of Parliament mentioned operational liabilities and government accounting adjustments as being responsible for the ballooning debts.
A significant portion of the debt according to Mr Kombat is as a reslt of trade obligations and unpaid crude oil supplies over the years.
The TOR Boss also disclosed that some grants initially extended by the Ministry of Finance had been reclassified as debt under the government’s ongoing agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), this he noted contributed to the surge in the company’s liabilities.
Despite these challenges, Mr Kombat assured that his outfit is working around the clock to restructure the debt and engage with stakeholders to clear the outstanding obligations.
“We are doing that verification, and as I mentioned, once we do that verification and authentication of what we have been able to bring down, that will be communicated publicly.
“So what occasioned it trade debts, sometimes third parties. And then there were also debts that are legacy debts where crude was supplied, it was not paid. There were times that the Ministry of Finance in the past had given some funds to TOR. Some of it for example was grant and then when they entered into the IMF, the IMF asked them to reclassify it as debt. So those things have accumulated to that amount of money. And I think that the last time TOR traded, some of the trade were not hedged and so there was a lot of exposure which led to a lot of debt ballooning but we are here to make sure that that is stopped and it is not repeated again.”
TOR has also initiated steps to revive its key production infrastructure, including the Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) and the Residue Fluid Catalytic Cracker (RFCC).
Mr Kombat told Parliament that; “We (refering to the country) spend $400 million every month importing refined petroleum products. When TOR is running, we will need less than 60% of that money to import refined petroleum products,”.
He explained that the refinery’s nameplate capacity stands at 45,000 barrels per stream day. However, with the installation of a new furnace, TOR can now process up to 60,000 barrels daily.
Given Ghana’s daily consumption of around 100,000 barrels, the refinery could potentially meet between 45% and 60% of local demand.
Management is hopeful of turning-around the fortunes of TOR to significantly reduce Ghana’s reliance on imported refined petroleum products.
