The Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) is set to resume crude oil refining operations by the end of October 2025, following many years of inactivity.
Speaking in a radio interview on Accra-based Onua FM on Monday [October 13], Godwin Mahama, a Corporate Affairs Officer at TOR said TOR had been largely inactive with its primary function of refining crude oil brought to a standstill.
He noted that the new management team has made it a priority to restore the refinery to its core mandate. As part of this effort, TOR has undertaken a comprehensive Turnaround Maintenance Project, which is now 98 per cent complete.
He said the main function of refining crude was non-existent, and for some time now, TOR has been rendering services because of the big tank farms, it has been storing fuel in the absence of its core mandate by renting the tank farms to Bulk Distributing Companies, which have been importing finished products into the country.
“The new management has made it a point that the company goes back to its main core mandate by the end of this month, October [2025]. TOR will start refining Crude in this country, we have started what we call the turn-around maintenance to put all the equipment back into shape,” he said on the Yɛn Nsempa morning show on Onua FM.
He said during a TOR staff durbar last week, it was confirmed that the Turnaround Maintenance Committee will hand over the plant to the Production Unit by this Friday [Oct 17, 2025]. Once the production team completes its final inspection, TOR will be ready to resume operations.
“Before the third week of this month, the first crude will arrive in the country, and refining will begin,” Mr. Mahama said.
Mr. Mahama credited the refinery’s revival to the leadership of the Managing Director Edmund Combat and the support of President John Mahama, whose administration, he noted, has remained committed to revitalizing TOR.
“President Mahama has consistently reiterated that TOR must work again because when TOR works, it brings employment and strengthens our foreign exchange position,” he emphasized.
He further explained that reviving local refining will significantly reduce Ghana’s dependence on imported petroleum products.
“Currently, almost all our finished products are imported, but if TOR can meet about 60% of the local market demand, we’ll save foreign currency, strengthen the cedi, and complement the government’s economic stabilization efforts, including those by the Finance Ministry and GOLDBOD,” he added.
Read also: TOR planning to resume crude oil refinery from October 2025 – Acting MD