TOR planning to resume crude oil refinery from October 2025 - Acting MD
The Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) says it could resume oil refinery operations by October 2025, provided there is an intervention to resolve longstanding financial and policy issues affecting the company.
The acting Managing Director of TOR, Mr Edmond Kombat, said this during a meeting with the Parliamentary Select Committee on Energy at Senchi on Sunday [June 22, 2025].
The meeting formed part of the committee’s routine oversight of agencies under the Ministry of Energy and Green Transition.
Mr Kombat told the committee that although the refinery’s technical upgrades are progressing, its operations in terms of oil refinery remain stalled due to unresolved debts, delayed statutory payments, and institutional hurdles.
TOR halted oil refinery operations in 2021, not because of equipment failure, but due to the unavailability of crude oil. Since then, the refinery has been working on restoring its facilities, he said.
These include modernising its gantries and terminals, upgrading its in-house laboratory to meet international fuel quality standards, and completing projects.
He said the Crude Distillation Unit should be ready for operation between September and October, while the Residue Fluid Catalytic Cracker, which generates most of TOR’s revenue, may come onstream by December 2025 or early 2026.
Mr Kombat stressed that restarting the refinery depends on Parliament’s willingness to assist in resolving financial difficulties.
As of December 2024, TOR’s debt was estimated at around US$517 million. A significant part of this is linked to delayed receipts from the Energy Sector Levy Act (ESLA) and arrears in crude oil supply payments.
He urged the Parliamentary Select Committee to support a restructuring of the refinery’s debt. He also suggested converting government liabilities owed to TOR into equity to ease the financial burden.
Mr Kombat further called for the restoration of TOR’s share of ESLA proceeds, which he said are now being redirected to other creditors.
He argued that these funds, originally intended to support energy sector recovery, are needed to sustain TOR’s revival.
The refinery is also requesting inclusion in the primary distribution margin and representation on the Laycan Committee, which oversees the scheduling of crude oil deliveries.
According to Mr Kombat, if these measures are approved, TOR would be able to process about 60 per cent of Ghana’s domestic crude oil needs.
This, he said, could reduce the country’s monthly foreign exchange expenditure on petroleum imports by as much as US$400 million.
He also revealed that TOR’s accounts have not been audited since 2019.
He said an external audit is currently underway and is expected to be completed and presented to Parliament by the end of July 2025.
Chairman of the Energy Committee and Member of Parliament for Ho West, Mr Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah, said the Committee would take TOR’s requests into consideration and continue to monitor developments at the refinery.
