TOR shut down

The Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) plant has been temporarily shut down for lack of crude oil.

A source close to TOR who disclosed this yesterday said the refinery had remained shut for the past one and half weeks.

A visit by Times to the refinery yesterday confirmed the non-operation of the plant. Some workers who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, which was supposed to supply the crude oil to TOR, had failed to do so.

They could not assign reasons for the failure.

They, however, said the refinery was expecting some crude by Friday from a company in Nigeria.

The acting Managing Director of TOR, Mr Ato Ampiah, could not be contacted on the situation because he was in meeting.

However, Mrs Aba Lokko, TOR Public Relations Officer confirmed the shut-down but said during the period an arrangement had been put in place to ensure continuous supply of petroleum products on the market.

She did not explain the reason for the closure except to say "If the plant is shut down, there must be a reason; we have made sure there is enough product on the market."