Tender Closes For TOR Expansion

LONDON -(Dow Jones)- Ghana is beginning its ambitious expansion and privatization plans for the country's only oil refinery, as it looks to appoint an adviser to oversee the process.

The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning recently issued a tender for expressions of interest in The Economist magazine, and is now drawing up a shortlist of applicants after the tender closed on Monday. The tender didn't specify when the appointment would be made.

According to the tender, the Ghanian government is looking to triple the crude refining capacity of the state Tema Oil Refinery, or TOR, to 145,000 barrels a day from the current 45,000 b/d.

TOR is entirely state-owned but the government plans a part-privatization in line with a progressive deregulation strategy for the oil sector, which began in earnest five years ago.

The tender said: "The proposed expansion will result in a major recapitalization of the company leading to the sale of a significant equity stake to a strategic investor following an...internationally competitive bidding process."

The government has set up a Technical Committee for the Privatization of TOR to manage the project. Neither the committee nor the refinery could be reached for comment.

A $208 million modernization program in 1997 brought TOR up to its current capacity from 25,000 b/d. Five years later, TOR was upgraded to a conversion refinery by commissioning a residual catalytic cracking unit, allowing it to increase its gasoline and diesel production, according to the Ministry of Energy. It also gave Ghana self-sufficiency and export capacity in liquid petroleum gas and kerosene.