Crude oil is coming - President Mills

Tema, Oct. 22, GNA - President John Evans Atta Mills on Thursday gave strong indications that the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) would soon receive crude oil to commence full operations, when he visited the Refinery following workers' agitations there.

Addressing the Workers, President Mills acknowledged that there have been some problems in the past and indicated that Government was bent on using the assets of the Company to improve on its operations.

He said an allegation that some top Government personalities were involved in underground deals at the Refinery that had negatively affected its smooth operations would be investigated and the law applied no matter who was involved.

President Mills asked the Workers, some of whom were visibly angry, to use temperate language in their discussions with the Management of the Refinery during the negotiations of their salaries and conditions of service. Unionised petroleum workers in a resolution passed at a joint Emergency General Meeting by members of the Ghana Transport, Petroleum and Chemical Workers' Union (GTP&CWU) and the Professional and Managerial Staff Union (PMSU) of the Union of Industries Commerce and Finance on Wednesday appealed to President Mills to help to find a lasting solution to the crude oil problem facing the Refinery.

They said President Mills' intervention was crucial as a series of discussions they had held at different levels between the Union Leadership and "the powers that be" at TOR had not yielded any positive results.

It pointed out that; "TOR has not been about its core business of refining crude oil, a situation which at various times of the year, led to fuel shortages, with serious implications on trade and commerce on the various sectors of the economy, and for that matter, some level of hardships on the Ghanaian populace." The resolution further said the unavailability of crude oil to make the plant run, "has a consequential deterioration on the installations, which will ultimately add to the already huge TOR debt due to cost of maintenance.

"Other industries which are dependent on TOR for Residual Fuel Oil (RFO) are on the verge of temporarily closing down," the resolution said.

The resolution pointed out that workers of TOR "are at a loss as to why Sahara Oil is able to supply Crude Oil to the Volta River Authority, but is being prevented from supplying to TOR."

Mr Albert Kojo Pinto, Chairman of the TOR Local Workers Union, after the interaction, said the Tema District Council of Labour, the umbrella body of the workers unions in Tema, would be briefed on the outcome of the meeting with President Mills after which they would address a press conference on Friday.