The Institute for Energy Policies and Research (INSTEPR) says the Tema Oil Refinery needs $500 million to be renovated.
It asked why the government, the largest stakeholder of the oil refinery, has been silent on how to get the refinery operating to generate oil to cushion Ghanaians during the spike in petrol, diesel, and LPG at different pumps.
In a statement, the think tank said the Finance Ministry was cash-strapped, thus it couldn’t pump money into the almost-dead refinery.
“As the refinery’s principal owner, the government has been silent on efforts to ease Ghanaians’ suffering. $500 million is needed to overhaul TOR and fund its operations. We know Ministry of Finance doesn’t have this money, particularly under IMF surveillance “release said.
Since June 2018, the Tema Oil Refinery has been inoperable owing to a scarcity of crude oil.
TOR has issues including damaged equipment, stacked debt, and insufficient crude oil in its single oil refinery.
TOR’s management requested Energy Ministry clearance in April to hire private sector firms to modernize the oil refinery.
The go-ahead came in 2022. Deputy Energy Minister Andrew Egyapa Mercer expressed optimism about the oil refinery in June.