The Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) is one of two

crude oil Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring u ...

refineries in

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

. In 1977, the Government of Ghana became the sole shareholder. The name of the refinery was changed to the Tema Oil Refinery in 1991. The refinery was first named the Ghanaian Italian Petroleum Company (GHAIP).

History

The refinery is in

Tema Tema is a city on the Bight of Benin and Atlantic coast of Ghana. It is located east of the capital city; Accra, in the region of Greater Accra, and is the capital of the Tema Metropolitan District. As of 2013, Tema is the eleventh most p ...

, the most industrialized city in Ghana. It is from

Accra Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...

, the capital of Ghana. The refinery was first named the

Ghanaian The Ghanaian people are a nation originating in the Gold Coast (region), Ghanaian Gold Coast. Ghanaians predominantly inhabit the Republic of Ghana and are the predominant cultural group and residents of Ghana, numbering 34 million people as of ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

Company (GHAIP). It was licensed as a private limited liability company in 1960 as a fully owned

company – ANIC Societa per Azioni and AGIP Societa per Azioni of Italy were its major shareholders. In April 1977, the

Government of Ghana The Government of Ghana was created as a parliamentary democracy, followed by alternating military and civilian governments in Ghana. In January 1993, military government gave way to the Fourth Republic after presidential and parliamentary elect ...

became the sole

shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of corporate stock refers to an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the ...

. The name of the

refinery A refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value. Types of refineries Different types of refineries ...

was changed to the Tema Oil Refinery in 1991. TOR is authorized by law to operate both as a refiner of crude oil and seller of petroleum products.

Capacity

The refinery covers a total area of 440,000 square meters. It is linked to an oil jetty at the Port of Tema by pipelines of various diameters for the transportation of crude oil and refined petroleum products. TOR's refining plant was designed in 1963 as a Hydro-skimming plant with an initial capacity of 28,000 barrels per stream day. It was to process light and low sulfur crude oils, such as Bonny Light and Brass River from

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, and Palanca Blend from

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

. The products of the refining process were

liquefied petroleum gas Liquefied petroleum gas, also referred to as liquid petroleum gas (LPG or LP gas), is a fuel gas which contains a flammable mixture of hydrocarbon gases, specifically propane, Butane, ''n''-butane and isobutane. It can also contain some ...

gasoline Gasoline ( North American English) or petrol ( Commonwealth English) is a petrochemical product characterized as a transparent, yellowish, and flammable liquid normally used as a fuel for spark-ignited internal combustion engines. When for ...

, illuminating and cooking kerosene, aviation turbine kerosene, gas-oil or

diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine ...

and residual oil. In 1977, as part of the first phase of TOR's expansion and modernization program, the Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) was revamped to 45,000 barrels per stream day. In 2002, as the second phase of the expansion and modernization program, a Residue Fluid Catalytic Cracking (RFCC) unit of capacity 14,000 barrels per stream day was commissioned. The RFCC was to convert the low valued residual fuel oil from the CDU into high valued products of LPG and gasoline. Ghana started commercial production of crude oil in December, 2010. The country's Jubilee oil field produces the high grade 'Sweet Light' oil. The installation processes of crude oil daily. However, TOR was built to process lower grade crudes and cannot refine oil from the new local fields unless significant investment was made. An engineer at the oil field said the costs of retrofitting required to cope with the higher grade oil (approximately $1 billion) was prohibitive, and that it was unlikely that the investment would ever be made. The refinery has an output capacity of about 6,138 metric tonnes per day. TOR underwent the first phase of a major rehabilitation in 1989. The second phase began in April 1990 at an estimated cost of US$36 million. The aim of the rehabilitation is to improve distribution of

, and increase its supply from per day. Construction on the new Tema-

Akosombo Akosombo is a small town in the south of the Asuogyaman District, Eastern Region, Ghana with notable street names of some African countries in the sub-region like Ghana, Congo, Namibia, Lagos-town, and Freetown. It is occupied by people of ...

oil products pipeline, designed to carry refined products from Tema to Akosombo Port, began in January 1992. From there, oil is to be transported across

Lake Volta Lake Volta (), the largest artificial reservoir in the world based on surface area, is contained behind the Akosombo Dam which generates a substantial amount of Ghana's electricity. It is completely within the country of Ghana and has a surface ...

to northern regions.Clark, Nancy L. "Petroleum Exploration".
A Country Study: Ghana
'' (La Verle Berry, editor).

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

Federal Research Division The Federal Research Division (FRD) is the research and analysis unit of the United States Library of Congress. The Federal Research Division provides directed research and analysis on domestic and international subjects to agencies of the Unite ...

(November 1994). ''This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domai

'' In 2002, the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum (Ghana), Minister of Energy announced that the Government of Ghana had negotiated with

Samsung Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...

Corporation of

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provide 230 million dollars for the funding of expansion works at the refinery. The major work was the installation of the Residue Fluid Catalytic Cracker (RFCC). There was an installation of two new

steam boilers Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

with a total capacity of per day. These replaced three old boilers of total capacity of per day which had been installed in 1963.

TOR debts

The

in 2010 paid all the debt owed to Ghana Commercial Bank. The debt of 1 billion cedis had accrued due to

's subsidy on petroleum products.

Fire

On 29 September 2023, a gas booster station called Quantum Gas near the facility caught fire.

References

{{Ministries and Agencies in Ghana Oil refineries in Ghana Government of Ghana

History

Capacity

TOR debts

Fire

See also

References