Energy Minister’s visit to TOR; a step in the right direction – Energy Expert

Petrochemical Engineer and Energy expert, Dr Yussif Sulemana, has stated that the visit of the New Energy Minister, Dr Matthew Opoku-Prempeh, to the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) is welcoming and a step in the right direction.

In an interview with GhanaWeb, he noted that the sector minister made a very good decision to visit the refinery and this proves he is a committed leader who is bent on bringing back TOR to life.

“I welcome the visit made by the sector minister to the refinery and I find it very refreshing and encouraging to choose the refinery as one of the foremost places to visit after assuming the position as the substantive sector minister. He was very clear on the direction he wants the refinery to go; that he wants to bring the refinery back to the production model which is key and he identified the potential standing blocks that could impede the refinery's smooth operations will be dealt with,” he said.

Listen to the full interview below;

Meanwhile, the Minister for Energy Dr Matthew Opoku-Prempeh has been visiting some sectors to discuss processes and draft strategic measures that could help to develop the Energy sector.

On one of his visits, the Minister made a stop at the Tema Oil Refinery where he engaged the industry players on what best can be done to revamp the refinery to meet the international standards and market.

“TOR is a strategic national asset, we will keep it so and ensure that TOR grows from strength to strength, anyone working here management or ordinary who thinks his activity will not lead to the promotion of TOR should find himself a better place to work, I said it to the union leaders and they didn’t like it. It is not the duty of the worker to tell who manages, it is the duty of the management of TOR to ensure that TOR grows to become a profitable, healthy company and if they’re not up to it, it will be up to the owners of TOR to bring you the necessary change to effect a healthy working relationship. Since the government is the only shareholder in TOR, the government will work to bring partnership in TOR that will help TOR grow not to help TOR break and when those partnerships occur, we will not hesitate in removing stumbling blocks. We cannot understand where in your books, people whom TOR have worked for owe TOR as much as 13 to 18 million dollars and we cannot find money to pay TOR workers.” He stated.