TOR Attempts To Clear $650m Debt

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Management of Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) and Bulk Oil, Storage and Transport Ltd (BOST) are said to be collaborating to clear the refinery’s indebtedness which is hovering around $650 million.

This follows the recent resumption of the refinery’s operations after shutting down for almost a year as a result of funding challenges.

The refinery  resumed operations last week after several test runs to ensure equipment were in good condition.

About 1 million barrels of crude oil are to be refined this month, which could translate to about 40 percent of product supply on the market, some analysts have noted.

An agreement is also said to have been reached between TOR, importers of petroleum products and oil marketing companies to supply products to the refinery.

In line with this, TOR’s products could be released onto the market next week, a move that could help the country reduce the importation of finished petroleum products.


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In 2015, over $2 billion was spent on the importation of petroleum products.

ACEP raises concerns

The Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) recently said government could not continuously tax Ghanaians in the name of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) Debt Recovery Levy, since technically the debt had been cleared and even overpaid.

It stated that at the time the levy was instituted, the total debt stood at GH¢450 million, adding that if the debt has still not been cleared, then government was to blame for either mismanaging the levy or non-compliance.

ACEP sent a comprehensive report to Parliament on the levy, explaining why government should discontinue the collection of the levy.

Executive Director of ACEP, Muhammed Amin Adam noted: “Our analysis shows that from 2009 and 2015, the total collection from the levy is in excess of GH¢1.9 billion, which effectively amortises the debt assuming an interest rate of 10 percent and therefore we find it difficult to comprehend why consumers should continue to pay this debt.”

By Samuel Boadi


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