TOR’s debt hits $517million despite paying TOR Debt Recovery Levy since 2003

The Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) is reeling under a massive debt burden of $517 million despite the payment of the TOR Debt Recovery Levy since 2003.

TOR management attributes the debt to years of unpaid trade obligations, legacy debts, and reclassified grants under the International Monetary Fund’s economic reforms.

TOR’s Acting Managing Director, Edmund Kombat, disclosed the details to journalists after briefing Parliament’s Energy Committee. According to him, the debt as of December 2024 is the result of a mix of operational shortfalls and accounting shifts imposed by the government’s current agreement with the IMF.

“We are doing that verification, and as I mentioned, once we do that verification and authentication of what we have been able to bring down, that will be communicated publicly,” Kombat stated.

He explained that the debt pile includes crude oil supplies that were never paid for, third-party trade liabilities, and grants from the Ministry of Finance that were retroactively reclassified as loans by the IMF.

“So what occasioned it—trade debts, sometimes third parties. And then there were also debts that are legacy debts where crude was supplied, it was not paid. There were times that the Ministry of Finance in the past had given some funds to TOR. Some of it for example was grant and then when they entered into the IMF, the IMF asked them to reclassify it as debt,” he revealed.

He also cited poor financial planning in previous transactions, including unhedged trades that left TOR exposed to market fluctuations, further compounding its financial woes.

“So those things have accumulated to that amount of money. And I think that the last time TOR traded, some of the trade were not hedged and so there was a lot of exposure which led to a lot of debt ballooning but we are here to make sure that that is stopped and it is not repeated again.”

Despite the dire financial state, management insists TOR is taking deliberate steps to restructure and reduce the debt. Kombat assured that ongoing audits and financial reviews would pave the way for transparency and better fiscal discipline going forward.

The announcement comes at a time when TOR is actively working toward a full operational restart. The refinery, which has been largely dormant due to a lack of crude oil, is expected to resume operations by October 2025. Plans are already underway to rehabilitate major infrastructure such as the Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) and the Residue Fluid Catalytic Cracker (RFCC)—facilities central to Ghana’s goal of reducing dependence on imported petroleum products.

TOR’s leadership has appealed to Parliament and stakeholders for support as the refinery embarks on its recovery path, vowing to eliminate the mismanagement practices that have long plagued the country’s only oil refinery.