Even with new management and a new Board in place, the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) has not been able to resume processing crude oil, which has alarmed an energy think-tank called the Institute for Energy Policies and Research (INSTEPR).
On March 2, 2022, the board of directors and the current managing director, Jerry K. Hinson, were chosen. Eight months later, the refinery has not yet started up again.
“The majority of Ghanaians are wondering why Tema Oil Refinery isn’t operating.
The cost of petroleum goods has increased by more than 150% in recent months.
Because to the rise in the cost of products and transportation, the average Ghanaian has been put through tremendous hardship, according to a press release from the Energy think-tank.
The Institute for Energy Policies and Research (INSTEPR) says the situation is becoming worrying to industry experts as the “majority shareholder of the refinery[government] has been quiet on any plans to get the refinery working to cushion the suffering of Ghanaians.”
The last time the TOR refined crude oil was in April 2021, just before the appointment of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) on June 15, 2021, which was later replaced by a permanent MD and board.
But even before the new current MD and board took office, the Energy Minister, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, at the inauguration of the IMC, tasked it to, among other things, receive and assess viable partnerships towards reviving TOR.
Although the three-member IMC was at TOR for nine months, INSTEPR said no progress was recorded during the period, as there was neither procurement nor refining of crude.