Woodfields Energy denies owing TOR

Woodfields Energy Resources Limited, an indigenous Petroleum company has stated it was not indebted to the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) to a tune of $5,000,000 and has refused to make payments.

A statement signed by the head of the legal department of Woodfields Energy Resources and copied to the Ghana News Agency at Tema on Wednesday said, “Woodfields has honoured all its payment obligations for processing fees to TOR and is not indebted to TOR for any processing fee charges”.

The statement, however, said “Woodfields has observed through our stock accounting records certain shortfalls in our product volumes held in tanks at TOR to the tune of about USD5.7M.

The company said, “Per standard practice for processing agreements, we have engaged TOR in a material balance (product reconciliation) to ascertain the shortfall”.

The statement said Woodfields notified TOR in December 2020 of its desire to suspend any payments until after the material balance reconciliation which was presently underway.

“However, to demonstrate good faith and in recognition of the reconciliation exercise taking longer than anticipated, we have made payments in excess of $1,000,000.00 to TOR since the commencement of the exercise in January 2021,” the statement stated.

The statement explained that, “Woodfields and its affiliates have had consistent engagement with TOR over the last three decades within which period it has initiated mutually beneficial ventures, enabling the refinery to increase and improve its facilities.”

The company said in August 2019 it started a processing arrangement with TOR that granted it the right to process a total of eleven million barrels of light crude oil, which is still in operation as of March this year.

“It must be mentioned that this is the first time in the recent history of the refinery that it has managed to operate a Light Crude Oil (LCO) processing agreement in a sustained manner over such a long period,” the statement said.

“This achievement spearheaded by Woodfields which took the sole risk of securing funds and worked closely with TOR, both commercially and technically for the successful outcome,” the statement explained.

The statement called on the general public, well-meaning members of society and industry players to completely disregard any publication that seek to paint a wrong picture as to the nature and style of the company and its operations in the country.

The statement said: “Woodfields is a credible business with a strong belief in ethics and fairness”.