TOR takes delivery of new steam boiler

TEMA OIL Refinery (TOR) is boosting its power generation capacity following the arrival of a new 120-ton-per-hour steam boiler over the weekend.

The boiler 8, which arrived on the premises of the refinery over the weekend, is expected to greatly augment power generation of the refinery and help TOR wean itself off the national grid.

The Public Affairs Manager for TOR, Dr. Kingsley Antwi-Boasiako, described the arrival of the 120-ton-steam boiler as a major boost to the efficiency and reliability of the processing plants at TOR.

He stated: “This 120-ton-per-hour boiler means one main thing to TOR – efficiency. Although we are keeping our expectations moderate, we hope that situations where TOR has to shut down as a result of unavailability of power will be reduced to the barest minimum.”

He said upon the completion of the installation of the boiler, TOR would in the long run be able to wean itself off the national grid and even produce excess power as enough steam would be generated to power the generators for electricity.

The Utilities Manager for TOR, Alhaji Amin Abubakar, explained that boilers are mainly used in generating steam which helps to assist the generators in producing electricity for the operations at TOR.

Meanwhile, the refinery completed the discharge of about 950,000 barrels of crude oil on Tuesday as it prepares its boilers for refining fuel after several months of shut down. The discharge was done in three days after laboratory test.

This week, the company will start discharging water from the crude oil which lasts for some periods in order to properly kick start proper refining of the raw oil product into other petroleum products.

The Managing Director of TOR, Isaac Osei, said his outfit was hoping to increase its production to full capacity since they had started receiving crude oil and replacing pieces of equipment.

According to him, although TOR has been facing a series of operational challenges over the years which compelled it to suspend operations, he is determined to bring life into the nation’s only refinery to boost the economy.

He outlined plans to improve the refinery capacity to turn around the fortunes of the refinery soon.

On Friday, October 19, 2018, TOR crude oil arrived on board the MT British Heritage at the Tema Port.

Workers of the refinery, who recently expressed fear of a possible shut down of the refinery for good due to intermittent idleness of the plant after routine maintenance, have now starting gaining confidence following the arrival of the new steam boiler.