TOR Saga: Isaac Osei meets Akufo-Addo over conversion of TOR to tank farm

MyNewsGH.com can confirm that the Managing Director of Tema Oil Refinery(TOR), Mr Isaac Osei has met with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and briefed him about the current the state of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) after kicking against Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko’s plan to convert the refinery into a tank farm in the future.

The former Member of Parliament (MP) for Subin was at the Presidency last week and briefed the number one Gentlemen before he(President) left Accra for his three-day working to the Brong Ahafo Region.

Prior to the meeting, the President, Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko told Accra-based Oman FM that he would be compelled by circumstances to meet President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo over the impasse between him and the Managing Director of Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), Mr Isaac Osei.

He believes it was inappropriate for the Managing Director (MD) of TOR to have responded the way he did when he said the government plans to turn TOR into a tank farm after a new refinery is established expressing how slighted he feels about it.

The Energy Minister disclosed in January that government in partnership with the private sector will build a new oil refinery at the cost of $4billion.

The new refinery is expected to produce about 150,000 barrels of oil per day, eight times the current production of the TOR when completed, leading to the gradual easing out of TOR into a tank farm—a move the management of TOR labeled as unacceptable.

Mr. Osei and his Board Chairman, Tongrana Kugbilsong Nanlebegtang in a united voice, kicked against the decision wondering why the refinery will be scrapped at a time when it has installed a catalytic cracker with the hope to commence full operations.

“I didn’t come to TOR to preside over its demise. I have not come here to run this company by scrapping it,” Isaac Osei said, adding: “I don’t think to convert it into a tank farm is the way forward.”

But speaking to Oman FM’s Michael Creg Afful on the issue, Mr Agyarko said: “If you are a minister, it’s beneath you to engage your subordinates on something both of you disagree on in public or on the radio. And if you are under a minister and you disagree with his decision you don’t resort to the radio to vent your displeasure”

“So as a minister, I will not engage any of my subordinates over issues we disagree on the radio. It’s beneath me. I’m not being boastful or arrogant. It’s just not right. The President will be in town tonight; I will engage him on the matter and move it on from there not my subordinate,” he added.

It is not clear whether the President invitation to the TOR MD, was based on the earlier indication by the Energy Minister or not.

In an interaction with MyNewsGH.com’s reporter, Mr Isaac Osei confirmed meeting the President but declined to disclose details of their interactions.

Meanwhile, information available to MyNewsGH.com indicates that TOR is expecting the arrival of some crude soon to commence full operations.