TOR to return to full operational capacity by 2020

The Tema Oil Refinery, TOR, is expected to resume its full operational capacity for refining crude oil by the first quarter of 2020.

This should be made possible with the replacement of one of the company’s furnaces which have impacted operations for about two years now.

The latest assurance follows efforts by the managers of the Tema Oil Refinery to pay for the furnace which has already been completed awaiting installation.

The furnace which broke down in 2017, reduced the refining capacity of TOR from an estimated 45,000 barrels of oil per day to about 25,000 barrels of oil per day.

This has also impacted on the liquidity of the refinery as the low levels of production makes it difficult to accrue more income to facilitate its operations.

But the General Manager in charge of Finance at TOR, Daniel Appiah tells Citi FM the process should be completed within the next eight months.

“We are looking at trying to getting some funds by this week to pay for the furnace to be installed which we are estimating should take between six to eight months. So hopefully by the first quarter of next year, we can restore to our original capacity of refining 45,000 barrels of oil per day,” he explained.

Already, TOR is faced with an outstanding legacy debt of 1.85 billion cedis despite 1.1 billion cedis being cleared through proceeds from the Energy Sector Levy Act (ESLA) PLC.

This development amongst others has made it difficult for the state-owned refinery to generate enough working capital to procure crude oil for processing on a continuous basis.

But Mr. Appiah said the government has facilitated the supply of 700,000 barrels of crude oil which is being refined to help sustain the company’s operations for the time being.

“We are currently processing that crude and the expectation is that when this process continues, we can use the revenue derived as seed capital to procure crude on a continuous basis for processing,” he emphasized.