Minority accuse govt of scheming to sell TOR

Minority lawmakers have accused government of scheming to sell Tema Oil Refinery under the guise of a joint venture with Petro Saudi.

Petro Saudi under the partnership will address the marketing challenges of TOR and enhance its operations.

Petroleum Minister Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah disclosed the status of the TOR-Petro Saudi deal when he appeared in parliament to answer questions.

But Manhyia South MP, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh said government isn’t being transparent with the deal.

“Joint venture means that you are divesting part of the company…for an underperforming company like TOR, you either sell or transform, he [Kofi Buah] just said they are partnering petro-saudi to transform, but to get a value out of Joint ownership, you don’t milk your company before you transform.

“By delaying the necessary investment in TOR, the value of shares in TOR gets to virtually zero, so on what basis would a meaningful partnership be gained by Ghanaians,” Opoku Prempeh said.

But Petroleum Minister Armah-Kofi Buah insists the deal is transparent and not to sell off the Refinery.

“The partnership between TOR and Petro-Saudi is not divesting any asset of TOR; Tema Oil Refinery is not for sale…there is an engagement on the marketing arm of TOR…let me make it clear the government does not intend to sell TOR”.

The Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) is feared to have lost more than $63 million since July 2012 as a result of its inability to process and refine crude because of broken equipment.

Ghana’s only state-run refinery has been operationally idle since July last year due to the breakdown of critical equipment.

In August last 2012, Reuters reported that both the main crude distillation unit and the residual fuel catalytic converter of the 45,000 barrels-per-day refinery plant had been shut down.

Reuters reported that a close source within TOR said: “The changers (a component of the plant) were blocked and needed to be replaced but lack of funds has delayed the work”, adding that some boilers had worn-out.

The faulty equipment were expected to have been replaced last year. TOR has been plagued by repeated shut downs over the past few years, often due to unavailable crude after its main lender Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) cut off support due to unpaid debts.

In May 2012, TOR’s Managing Director Ato Ampiah announced that management had secured some $900 million in financing from banks, BNP Paribas and Standard Chartered to help the plant settle its debt backlog and purchase crude supplies.

Even though the government defrayed the state Bank’s debt a year earlier, TOR still remained indebted to some bulk oil suppliers. In August last year, Reuters said its source within TOR said: “We are still grappling with issues over crude availability, but for now that was not the key reason for the current shutdown.”

Kwesi Pratt Jr told Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana Newspaper review programme on Wednesday February 13 that: “TOR has not produced a teaspoon of crude oil since July, as a result the Tema Oil Refinery is losing 300,000 dollars a day”, he charged adding: “Calculate and see how much we are losing”.