Sentuo Refinery, a newly constructed refinery in Tema in the Republic of Ghana, which is currently undergoing a test run, has produced high-quality petroleum products, according to the petroleum downstream regulator, National Petroleum Authority (NPA).
The Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Dr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, who disclosed this to a section of the Ghanaian media, said his outfit visited the refinery to inspect the ongoing test run and examined the samples of the products the refinery had produced.
The refinery which is owned by a Chinese investor has an initial capacity of 40,000 barrels per day and would gradually be upgraded to 100,000 barrels per day in the future.
The refinery expects to complete the ongoing test run between March and April 2024 after which the National Petroleum Authority would issue them an operational licence.
After the issuance of the operational licence, the refinery would then commence commercial operation.
Ghana spends US$400 million monthly to import refined petroleum products from Europe and the Middle East and this puts pressure on the local currency, the Cedi.
Although the West African nation has a crude oil processing refinery, TOR, it has become idle for some years as a result of poor leadership.
An attempt to get a strategic partner to bring Ghana’s refinery back to operation has been fraught with controversies due to a lack of transparency in the whole process.
Dr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid expressed the hope that the coming of Sentuo Refinery and Africa’s largest refinery, Dangote Refinery in Nigeria, would help to bring the cost of fuel down.
“I am sure that when we get to 100,000 barrels per day ay, then, we can assure ourselves that we can get moderate pricing or reasonable pricing for petroleum products in Ghana,” he asserted.
“So for Sentuo Refinery, it’s good news for all of us,” he stated.
When reached via the telephone, Mr Albert Duncan, Engineering Consultant and Project Lead at the Sentuo Refinery, confirmed the high quality petroleum products produced by the refinery as stated by the regulator.
He was hopeful that the ongoing test run would be completed in March as scheduled for commercial operation to commence.
Source:https://energynewsafrica.com/
