TOR Must Work Again
TOR, the only oil refinery in the country, has been saddled with many problems for some time now and the challenges appear unending. As acknowledged by the acting Chief Executive of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Mr. Godwin Kudzo Tameklo Esq., TOR and its crippling debts, infrastructural issues and equipment have been well noted and plans on making it work again. Mr. Tameklo during his recent visit to the facility stressed the need for new management of TOR to work on getting the refinery to start refining crude oil for the local market.
Among some of the challenges that needs to be resolved in order to turn the state-owned company around are worker’s agitation over non-payment of salaries, water supply to the refinery being an inconsistent feature, unavailability of crude oil to be refined, to mention a few. More importantly, if this vital state asset is to be revived, urgent steps need to be taken to increase its crude oil distillation unit, solve the RFCC problem, install hydrotreating catalysts and technologies for all crude oil fractions, construct a gas pipeline to power the refinery and put measures and security in place to stop the theft of products. A well ran TOR could save the economy billions in foreign exchange, strengthen the cedi, create jobs and ultimately give impetus to the drive for a value added economy.
In this light, the new management must work to right the many wrongs that have bedevilled TOR to salvage this vital national asset, which was asset established in 1963
