UK firm to relocate oil refinery to Ghana

ACCRA, June 6 A London-based trading company, Scott Haig and Company Ltd, wants to relocate a 125,000 barrel per day oil refinery to Ghana, the executive secretary of Ghana's Free Zones Board said.

``We have given Scott Haig 300 acres of land at Tema to build a refurbished refinery plant,'' George Aboagye said in an interview on Thursday.

``I think they are relocating the plant from the United States,'' he said. ``It is a great opportunity as there are only national refineries in the region and no export-dedicated ones.''

Scott Haig's Managing Director Peter Hickson declined to say whether he intended to relocate a plant from the U.S. ``I can give you more details when we are a bit further down the line,'' he told Reuters by telephone from London.

Scott Haig have hired a London-based petroleum engineering consultant, Aboagye said.

The seaport of Tema, 30 km east of the capital Accra, already has a state-owned refinery whose capacity is being increased to 45,000 from 28,000 barrels per day, mainly for domestic consumption.

One condition of setting up in the free zone is that at least 70 percent of production must be exported.

If the project comes off, Scott Haig expects to refine its first barrels of oil by the end of 1998, according to Aboagye.

Aboagye said Scott Haig was currently looking for a syndicated loan of $700 million and total investment was expected to be $800 million.

Hickson said it was too early to give information on the funding of his project.

The projected plant's site is north of the existing Tema Oil refinery and 4 km from the coast.

An offshore facility will have to be built because the 9.6 metres draught of Tema port is too shallow for big tankers. Reuters