PRODUCTION works is set to resume on the Residual Fluid Catalytic Cracker (RFCC) plant of the Tema Oil Refinery by the end of the month following the arrival of a consulting engineer from Elliot Turbo-Machinery in Europe, manufacturers of the ‘Wet Gas Compressor’, equipment attached to the RFCC plant.
The engineer who has began a kick off meeting with the management of the refinery according to Daily Graphic sources would use a period of about ten days to complete repair works on the equipment.
Acting Managing Director, Dr Kwame Ampofo, who corroborated the information to the Daily Graphic, indicated that, a total of $250,000 would be spent on the repair and maintenance of the equipment.
The plant was shut down early February following damage to the equipment when personnel were in the process of refining parcels of crude oil brought into the country by the Ghana National Petroleum Authority (GNPC) through the government-government arrangement with neighbouring Nigeria.
The shutdown of the facility also saw TOR supplying the consuming public with finished products which were procured for the refinery by Cirrus Energy, Fuel Trade and Sage Commodities.
Dr Ampofo further disclosed that, plans are far advance to replace the burnt loading gantry with automated facilities.
This according to him were parts of stringent safety measures being put in place following the aftermath of the January inferno at the facility that saw two employees losing their lives in the process.
On the shortage of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in the market, he assured the public that the refinery was working hard to repair a leakage that was detected on its sixth pipeline leading to the suspension of the discharge of the product over the weekend.
He also assured of consistent supply of petroleum products to the markets following further arrangement of crude oil supply from its accredited agents for production works.
A statement signed by Ms Aba Lokko, Public Affairs Manager of TOR, said the company acknowledged the present shortage of LPG on the market, but attributed the situation to some technical difficulties resulting from the fire outbreak on January 19, 2010.
It noted that the incident also coincided with a major maintenance being carried out on the Residual Fluid Catalytic Cracker (RFCC) Unit.
The statement explained that subsequently, the refinery had been depending on imported finished products to serve the market.
It said it was in the process of discharging one such cargo of 5,000 metric tonnes of LPG, which arrived over the weekend through an arrangement by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) from the Oil Jetty to the refinery.
The statement said TOR sincerely regrets the situation and any inconvenience that it might had caused.
Friday, March 19, 2010
GNPC DENIES PRODUCT DIVERSION ALLEGATIONS
THE Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, Nana Boakye Asafu-Adjaye has denied allegations that the corporation was diverting refined finished products from the government-government crude oil arrangements to certain individuals within the corridors of government.
Speaking in an interview with the Daily Graphic in the wake of allegations by workers of the Tema Oil Refinery of the GNPC’s alledged diversion of products to its board chairman Mr Ato Ahwoi, Nana Asafu Adjaye indicated, TOR as an institution was handicapped owing to the difficult financial crisis which has resulted in its inability to obtain Letters of Credit (LCs) for the purchase of crude oil for refining.
He said government had tried to bail the refinery out from the crisis by requesting the GNPC facilitate the Letters of Credit required for the importation of crude oil.
He explained that the GNPC as an agency do not retail petroleum products but rather when refined products from crude oil processed are by TOR, the corporation then supplies the products to bulk distribution companies such as Cirrus energy, Fuel Trade and Sahara who have the capacities to establish letters of credit for purchases.
Nana Asafu-Adjaye noted, the Ministry of Energy, the National Petroleum Authority, TOR and the GNPC had agreed on a processing fee of $32.5 cent per metric tonne of crude of oil procured by the corporation.
‘It’s absurd on the part of workers of the refinery to be raising red flags about this arrangement as we believe the present tolling arrangement was necessary in view the current situation TOR finds itself in’, he remarked.
According to Nana Boakye, the corporation’s temporary arrangement towards salvaging TOR from its predicament was done in the national interest.
He reiterated that no member of the board or for that matter the board chair, Mr Ato Ahwoi have diverted any petroleum product meant for the general public’s consumption as being alledged by the workers.
Commenting on the corporation’s progress towards the acquisition of Kosmos energy’s stake in the jubilee field, Nana Boakye said, the corporation has made considerable progress in the discussion.
He disclosed the breach committed in the agreement by Kosmos through the disclosure of confidentiality agreement of GNPC’s data without any prior notification to the corporation was tended to the later’s proprietary interest.
According to the chief executive, the provision of the petroleum agreement requires that, ‘any party disclosing information or providing data to any third party under article 16.6 shall require such person to undertake the confidentiality of such data.
‘We are committed to ensuring that the country derives maximum benefit from the oil find as we make efforts to ensure investors gets decent return on their investment’, he added.
Workers of TOR at a recent emergency meeting accused officials of the GNPC from diverting from its core business of exploration into selling of finished products from the government-government crude oil arrangement from neighbouring Nigeria being processed by the refinery.
Speaking in an interview with the Daily Graphic in the wake of allegations by workers of the Tema Oil Refinery of the GNPC’s alledged diversion of products to its board chairman Mr Ato Ahwoi, Nana Asafu Adjaye indicated, TOR as an institution was handicapped owing to the difficult financial crisis which has resulted in its inability to obtain Letters of Credit (LCs) for the purchase of crude oil for refining.
He said government had tried to bail the refinery out from the crisis by requesting the GNPC facilitate the Letters of Credit required for the importation of crude oil.
He explained that the GNPC as an agency do not retail petroleum products but rather when refined products from crude oil processed are by TOR, the corporation then supplies the products to bulk distribution companies such as Cirrus energy, Fuel Trade and Sahara who have the capacities to establish letters of credit for purchases.
Nana Asafu-Adjaye noted, the Ministry of Energy, the National Petroleum Authority, TOR and the GNPC had agreed on a processing fee of $32.5 cent per metric tonne of crude of oil procured by the corporation.
‘It’s absurd on the part of workers of the refinery to be raising red flags about this arrangement as we believe the present tolling arrangement was necessary in view the current situation TOR finds itself in’, he remarked.
According to Nana Boakye, the corporation’s temporary arrangement towards salvaging TOR from its predicament was done in the national interest.
He reiterated that no member of the board or for that matter the board chair, Mr Ato Ahwoi have diverted any petroleum product meant for the general public’s consumption as being alledged by the workers.
Commenting on the corporation’s progress towards the acquisition of Kosmos energy’s stake in the jubilee field, Nana Boakye said, the corporation has made considerable progress in the discussion.
He disclosed the breach committed in the agreement by Kosmos through the disclosure of confidentiality agreement of GNPC’s data without any prior notification to the corporation was tended to the later’s proprietary interest.
According to the chief executive, the provision of the petroleum agreement requires that, ‘any party disclosing information or providing data to any third party under article 16.6 shall require such person to undertake the confidentiality of such data.
‘We are committed to ensuring that the country derives maximum benefit from the oil find as we make efforts to ensure investors gets decent return on their investment’, he added.
Workers of TOR at a recent emergency meeting accused officials of the GNPC from diverting from its core business of exploration into selling of finished products from the government-government crude oil arrangement from neighbouring Nigeria being processed by the refinery.
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