A member of the Mines and Energy Committee of Parliament has expressed optimism that the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) is likely to bounce back if proposals to allow the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) to run it are adhered to.
Cletus Avoka said this in an interview with Citi FM’s Kojo Akoto Boateng, after a tour of Petronas, in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. He also explained that Ghana Gas, BOST and other petroleum agencies must be run by the GNPC.
The nation’s refinery, TOR has been shut down following years of liquidity challenges.
“Yesterday when we were talking after that meeting some were saying it makes sense to put these agencies, TOR, Ghana Gas, BOST, Petroleum Commission, Energy Commission etc under GNPC. In fact, the distress that some of them are going through like TOR, because of capitalization might have been a thing of the past if it was under the GNPC,” he noted.
Cletus Avoka observed that TOR, which is under the Ministry of Petroleum, could easily be revived if it were under the GNPC adding that “GNPC could have taken a loan of $1 billion and then TOR will come to life, then they will refine crude oil and they will get better market downstream.”
“GOIL could have had more stations all over the country as compared to others so that this deregulation would have been regulated by them but there are all pockets of resistance and that is the challenge that we have.”
“With this exposure, we will tell the authority in the country that we think that, this is a better method and then it will be subjected to further interrogations,” the Committee member added.
Mr Avoka further urged Ghana to pick the positive lessons from how Malaysia has managed its petroleum resources and empower the GNPC to maximize the gains in the sector.
According to him, Petronas – the National Oil Company of Malaysia – is an example of how a well-coordinated institution could benefit the nation.
The National Oil Company, which serves as a regulator and is also actively involved in all aspects of the upstream and downstream petroleum business, is one of the key drivers of the economy of the Asian giant.
It contributes 40% of the Malaysian’s government’s revenue and 14% of the nation’s GDP and Cletus Avoka believes the GNPC could do more for Ghana like Petronas if it’s empowered to.
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