Ghana: Tema Oil Refinery Nears First Crude Run After Major Turnaround

Ghana’s premier refinery, Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) Limited—once widely viewed as a dying national asset—is now on a path to full recovery, with staff confidence restored, finances improved, and turnaround maintenance completed. The first parcel of crude for processing is expected to be announced soon.

Addressing journalists in Tema at a one-day capacity-building programme organised by Energy News Africa Ltd in collaboration with the Tema Regional Ghana Journalists Association, TOR’s Managing Director, Edmond Kombat Esq., painted a gloomy picture of the refinery’s mismanagement under previous leadership, which resulted in significant indebtedness.

With President Mahama’s “reset agenda” in mind, Mr. Kombat explained that he and his team began with a fishbowl analysis of TOR, breaking down every aspect of its operations to determine whether the refinery could realistically be salvaged and how to unlock its full potential.

This diagnostic exercise was followed by stakeholder mapping to identify key allies and obstacles, ensuring the President’s vision to save jobs and revive the plant could be effectively implemented.

One of the most pressing problems uncovered, he noted, was deep-seated staff bitterness after years without promotion—a situation that threatened productivity and unity.

Management therefore invited workers to petition for long-overdue promotions. A committee chaired by Mr. Kombat vetted more than 300 cases, with over 250 employees found deserving and subsequently elevated—an action that quickly restored calm and boosted morale.

“Immediately, it brought a lot of calm amongst the staff,” he said, describing the impact of the exercise.

To build a shared revival strategy, Mr. Kombat held departmental engagements across TOR’s 42 units, listening to staff concerns and ideas on how to “bring this refinery back,” before consolidating their contributions into a workable roadmap.

With government finances constrained under the IMF programme, TOR relied on internally generated funds and strict cash management, pursuing long-outstanding receivables and negotiating payment plans with debtors to sustain operations while critical maintenance was carried out.

He highlighted that a major revenue boost has come from extending loading hours—effectively introducing a partial 24-hour economy for terminal operations with the support of regulators and security agencies.

Instead of closing at 5 p.m., loading often continues until 11 p.m. or midnight, significantly increasing cash inflows.

Mr. Kombat also noted that management implemented strict accountability in product handling, ensuring that companies bringing in, for example, 10,000 litres received exactly the same volume back—a reform that rebuilt trust and turned satisfied clients into ambassadors for TOR.

These reforms, he said, have already yielded visible results: in recent months, TOR’s storage tanks have remained full, at times leaving no space for additional products—a striking turnaround from years of underutilisation.

He added that disciplined management and prudent use of internally generated funds enabled the refinery to complete a full turnaround maintenance programme on its Crude Distillation Unit without taking on new loans, despite years of unaudited accounts that made external financing nearly impossible.

The revival has also had a significant employment impact.

TOR, he said, engaged hundreds of technicians for the maintenance process, later absorbing many into permanent roles. Additional security and technical staff have also been recruited to fill vacancies left by departing engineers.

The refinery now supports roughly a thousand workers, as well as dependants who benefit from free medical care—safeguarding livelihoods that would have been lost had the plant collapsed.

Although Mr. Kombat acknowledges that “the refinery has not been salvaged” yet, test runs and system flushing have been completed. Management expects a flare-up and stabilisation phase before an official commissioning ceremony marking TOR’s full return to service.

He stressed that with plans to connect a new furnace and ramp up capacity toward 45,000 barrels per day, TOR’s revival is increasingly seen as a testament to how disciplined management, union resolve, and strategic planning can rescue a once-dying refinery and set it on a path to financial and operational renewal.