The Managing Director of Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), Isaac Osei, has called on the government to let Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) and the new refineries it plans to construct refine the crude oil produced in the country.
According to him, it is important for the government to start thinking about this since the initial configuration of every new refinery must take into account the type and nature of crude oil it plans to feed into the plant.
“Going forward, I would like to recommend that one of the ways in which we can integrate the various components of the oil and gas industry in Ghana is for government to consider making the crude oil, which is drilled in the Ghana offshore fields, as feedstock for TOR and the refineries that we plan to build. This will save the country millions of dollars it uses in procuring crude oil outside Ghana. It would also ensure that there is a constant supply of crude to be refined into finished petroleum products to support our local economy,” he noted.
Mr Isaac Osei made the appeal on the sidelines of the just-ended Offshore Technology Conference in Houston, Texas, USA, during a dinner hosted by Tullow Oil to celebrate its 10 years of operations in Ghana.
Isaac Osei, former CEO of Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), congratulated Tullow Oil on its 10 years of successful operations in the country and lauded its corporate social responsibility focus.
He reminded Ghanaians that developing the various communities is first the responsibility of Ghanaians.
“It is good for companies like Tullow Oil to embark on CSRs. Let me emphasize, however, developing our respective towns, villages and cities is first the responsibility of every Ghanaian. As we do our best to develop the various communities, CSRs carried out by Tullow and other companies would only become complementary, thereby speeding up the process of growth which we all so desire,” according to the MD.
He further urged Tullow Oil to stay committed to its objective of making the most on capital invested in the company.
On TOR, Mr Osei admitted that even though the company had had problems in the past, the refinery is currently in a better place than it has been for many years; and is poised to do much better in future.
Present at the function were the Managing Director for Tullow Oil Ghana, Kweku Awotwe, two Deputy Ministers of Energy, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam and Joseph Cudjoe, who are in-charge of petroleum and finance and infrastructure at the ministry respectively.
Also present at the dinner were the CEOs of the two industry regulatory bodies in Ghana – the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) and the Petroleum Commission – Messrs Hassan Tampuli and Egbert Faibille respectively.
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