Plans are underway for the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) to increase its daily operational capacity of 45,000 barrels of crude oil to 145,000 barrels.

The move is to enable TOR to meet the anticipated demand of the sub-region besides bracing itself for commercial production of oil in the country next year.

Sam Yeboah Adomako, General Manager in charge of production at TOR, made this known in Accra at the opening of a two-day co-operation seminar for energy experts from South Korea and Ghana on refinery management.

The seminar is to facilitate exchange of knowledge and information between the two sides on the heavy oil upgrading processes and plans, maintenance management as well as storage and transportation.

Mr Adomako said following the discovery of oil in the country it was necessary for TOR to position itself to be able to process enough for export. He said the refinery was also planning to build another Residue Fluid Catalytic Cracking (RFCC) facility in order to meet the anticipated increased capacity.

The current RFCC facility of 14,000 barrel a day, he said, could be increased to 18,000 which could still not meet the projected 145,000 barrels.

Mr Alex Kofi Mensah Mould, acting Chief Executive of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), said the overall objective of the seminar was to upgrade the skills of participants.

He expressed the hope that at the end of the seminar a mutually beneficial knowledge would be gained for the development of Ghana’s refinery industry. Mr Oh Kang Hynn, Chairman of the Korea Petroleum Association (KPA), said he was hopeful that the deliberation between of two sides would yield fruitful results.