NewzPresident John Dramani Mahama has directed the Minister for Energy and Green Transition, John Abdulai Jinapor, together with the Board and management of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), to develop a strategic roadmap to expand the refinery’s production capacity to 100,000 barrels of crude oil per day. The directive was announced on Saturday, August 1, during the commissioning of the refurbished refinery at the Tema Industrial Enclave, where the President outlined an ambitious vision to transform the state-owned refinery into a key driver of Ghana’s industrialisation agenda. The event also marked a significant operational milestone, with TOR successfully processing one million barrels of locally produced Jubilee Field Medium Sweet Crude into finished petroleum products.
President Mahama said the government’s objective goes beyond restoring operations at the refinery, stressing that TOR must become more efficient, commercially competitive and financially sustainable. “Our vision for Tema Oil Refinery extends far beyond the successful refurbishment of these facilities. We do not intend merely to keep TOR operating.
We intend to make it more competitive. We intend to make it more efficient, and we intend to make it more commercially viable.” He added that the refurbishment should be viewed as the beginning of a broader national strategy to build an integrated petroleum industry capable of supporting Ghana’s economy and regional trade. The President noted that the rehabilitation of the Crude Distillation Unit, the restoration of the Residual Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit, the installation of the new F-61 crude heater and the return of Boiler No.
8 to service represent renewed confidence in Ghana’s industrial capacity. He further disclosed plans to insulate the refinery from political interference through institutional reforms aimed at ensuring long-term operational stability. President Mahama said government also intends to upgrade TOR’s Single Buoy Mooring (SBM) infrastructure to improve the offloading of crude oil and petroleum products, while positioning Ghana as West Africa’s leading petroleum refining, storage and logistics hub.
“Our work does not end with restoring TOR. Our vision is to transform Ghana into West Africa’s leading petroleum refinery, storage and logistics hub, adding value to our natural resources, creating jobs, strengthening energy security an… President John Mahama has commissioned the refurbished Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), marking a major step in efforts to restore the operations of the state-owned refinery.
The President also witnessed the official receipt of Ghana’s Jubilee crude oil for local refining as part of measures to strengthen domestic petroleum processing and reduce reliance on imported finished petroleum products. The Crude Distillation Unit is the first major processing facility in an oil refinery. It separates crude oil into various components, known as fractions, based on their boiling points before they undergo further refining into products such as gasoline, diesel and other petroleum products.
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