By Oluwatobi Odeyinka, Senior Reporter
The Ghanaian government’s desire to repair the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), is hampered by legacy debt issues and a technical design glitch.
Edmund Kombat, the Acting Managing Director of the 45,000Barrelsof Oil Per Day (BOPD)Refinery, made a case for its refurbishment after a Parliamentary presentation on Monday, June 23, 2023.
The 62 year old crude oil processing plant has been shut down since 2019 as a result of poor infrastructure, debts, and inadequate crude supplies.
Kombat, a criminal & corporate attorney who was appointed to the position in May 2025, said the repairs were aimed at increasing its capacity, adding that it would save the country about $240Million in the importation of petroleum products.
“We spend $400Million every month importing refined petroleum products. When TOR is running, we will need less than 60% of that money to import refined petroleum products because our nameplate capacity is 45,000 barrels and we recently installed a new furnace. With that new furnace, we can actually do 60,000 barrels and nationally, we consume about 100,000 barrels per stream day, every single day.”
But how does Mr, Kombat disentangle the huge debt hanging over the dormant, state-owned refinery to access the $300Million he needs for the repairs? Several reports of Ghana’s midstream hydrocarbon industry conclude that TOR Refinery’s over $500 Million debt comprises trade arrears, legacy obligations as well as recent reclassifications of grants to loans in an agreement between Ghana and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Ghana has little refining capacity; a growing set of modular refineries are not transparent about how much crude they are processing, let alone products they deliver.
Ghana exports most of the crude oil produced from its three oil fields — Jubilee, TEN, and SGN, and imports refined petroleum products to meet its domestic fuel needs.
The country produces about 140,000BOPD from the three fields, but it also imports crude oil, especially to supplement gas at its power generation plants.
As the country’s domestic fuel demand grows, it desires a return of its refinery in order to reduce its heavy dependency on imported petroleum products.
Hence, the present administration’s commitment to revamping the state-owned refinery. But there is an elephant in the room, which even the government has failed to acknowledge. TOR cannot refine Ghana’s premium crude oil.
The hydroskimming plant at the Tema Oil Refinery was not designed to process the light sweet crude oil from Ghana’s oil fields. When it was functional, it processed heavier crude oil and produced low-quality residual fuels.
Therefore, the repair of TOR may not rescue Ghana from the heavy importation of refined products that it wishes to address, and it would also not refine the barrels of crude oil produced from its fields, if it wants to maximize their value.
