'We will salvage TOR'

President J.E.A. Mills

Listen to the Deputy Energy Minister, D. Kwabena Donkor as he speaks to Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah
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The Tema Oil Refinery, distressed under the heavy weight of its debts, remains a national asset and government intends to salvage it, says Deputy Energy Minister, Dr. Kwabena Donkor.

On aggregate, TOR owes its creditors in excess of GHc1 billion, including a whopping GHc900+ million overdraft to Ghana Commercial Bank that has seen Ghana's largest bank periodically throwing out distress warnings and liquidity challenges.

Only about GHc100 million is owed TOR.
“That situation,” the Deputy Energy Minister who was speaking on Joy FM's Super Morning Show, told host Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah, “disables the refinery from accessing crude on the open market and that accounts for government's frantic efforts to get crude from other sources.”

TOR also owes oil traders, including some traditional ones that brought in oil for 2008 but were not paid and have therefore shut the door on Ghana.

“If they brought you crude in 2008, (you) processed, you sold, took your profit and you did not pay, they are no longer prepared to bring you crude on credit or open account.”

He said fortunately, President John Atta Mills has directed that the TOR problem be solved “once and for all,” and measures could include interventions on the capital or money markets, to buy off TOR's entire debts.

President Mills has instituted a four-man committee to see to the TOR problem and recommend a thorough solution. The four are Mr. John Martey Newman, the Chief of Staff; Dr Paul Acquah, Governor of the Bank of Ghana; Dr Kwabena Duffuor, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, and Dr Joe Oteng-Adjei, the Energy Minister.

“We are looking at various options submitted by some of our financial institutions… we are looking at those options and we're hoping that by the end of this month, (September) we would have taken a decision either to go to the capital market or the money market and offload the debt so that Ghana Commercial Bank would have some breathing space and we can also re-establish equilibrium”.

Story by Isaac Yeboah/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana