Heavy Industrial Area, Tema - Ghana
- 0579733300 / 0579733198
Heavy Industrial Area, Tema - Ghana
Your questions answered
Q. What does T.O.R stand for? Has this been the name of the Company from its establishment?
A. The acronym stands for Tema Oil Refinery Ltd. TOR Ltd. was formally known as the Ghanaian Italian Petroleum (GHAIP) Company and was commissioned to operate as a hydroskimming plant on 28th September 1963.
Q. Who owned GHAIP in the beginning?
A. The Italians were the owners of the Company. GHAIP was incorporated as a Private Limited Liability Company on 12 December 1960.
Q. When was ownership altered?
A. This was in 1977 during which a change in ownership agreement was signed between the Italians and the Government of Ghana. GHAIP was then incorporated as a 100% Ghanaian owned Company.
Q. When was the name “TOR” used?
A. This was in April 1977, when the Government of Ghana acquired sole ownership of GHAIP. The name was subsequently changed to Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) Ltd in 1991.
Q. Which people built the plant?
A. The plant was designed by AGIP Petroli. However, the facility was constructed by Snam Progetti. The two companies were both from Italy.
Q. What is the core business of TOR?
A. The primary activity of TOR is the refining of crude oil to produce refined petroleum product for national and socio-economic development.
Q. What is the Refinery’s long-term strategy?
A. 1. To serve as the hub for exporting finished products to the market and the sub region.
2. To be a commercially viable company.
Q. What is the plant capacity?
A. When the hydroskimming plant, also known as the Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) was first put into service in 1963, it could process 28,000 barrels per stream day. Later on, in 1996, as part of the first phase of TOR’s expansion and modernization program, the plant was revamped to 45, 000 barrels per stream day in 1996. The unit will be appropriately retooled by the Refinery to 60,000BPSD
Q. Does TOR own any more plants?
A. The goal of every refiner is to obtain the maximum amount of valuable product from every crude oil processed. Research into the need to further process the residue from the Hydroskimming plant led to the development of the Residue Fluid Catalytic Cracker (RFCC). Prior to the RFCC, fuel oil from CDU was sold at a low cost. Upon receiving funding, the Refinery will build a hydrotreater to enable it to fulfil the Afri-V Sulphur requirement for Gas oil. The Continuous Catalytic Reformer (CCR) will also be constructed to replace the Premium Reformer (PRF) to create more value by boosting the octane of the heavy. The residue is converted into high value products namely LPG, High Octane Gasoline, Light Cycle Oil, Heavy Cycle Oil and Clarified Oil.
Q. When was the RFCC commissioned?
A. It was commissioned in 2002, as a second phase of the expansion and modernization program.
Q. What is the total capacity of the RFCC?
A. It has a designed processing capacity of 14, 000 barrels per stream day.
Q. What is the capacity of the PRF?
A. The catalytic reformer unit is 6,500 barrels per stream day capacity. The Reformer converts heavy gasoline from the Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) into reformate and LPG. The Continuous Catalytic Reformer (CCR) will be built with a 10,000BPSD capacity, nevertheless, once the CDU capacity is increased to 60,000BPSD.
Q. How much crude oil does TOR process annually?
A. The Company has the capacity to process a total of 2,000,000 MT of crude oil per year.
Q. Where does TOR source for crude oil for processing?
A. The Company mostly imports crude oil from Nigeria, however, it also sources it from Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Gabon and Angola.
Q. How does TOR receive crude oil to the refinery?
A. The refinery is linked to an oil jetty and the Single Point Mooring (SPM) and Conventional Buoy Mooring (CBM) at the Port of Tema by pipelines of various diameters for the importation of crude oil to the refinery as well as refined petroleum products.
Q. What is the line of products from the processing of crude oil?
A. The finished products acquired from processing at the hydroskimming unit include, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), Light Gasoline, Heavy Gasoline, Domestic Kerosene, Aviation Turbine Kerosene (Jet A1), Gas oil (Diesel), and Low Sulphur Fuel oil (LSFO). The products obtained from the RFCC are Liquefied Petroleum Gas, Motor Gasoline, Light Cycle Oil (LCO) Heavy Cycle oil (HCO) and Clarified Oil.
Q. Are there any products that you export?
A. TOR exports some of its petroleum products, mainly cracked fuels oil, LPG, and Naphtha. This happens only when there is surplus.
Q. What goes into the production of the premix fuel?
A. Gasoline and marine mix are used.
Q. Does TOR produce the marine mix?
A. No. A third party supplies the marine mix.
Q. What are the refinery yields?
A. It depends on the type of crude oil being processed. TOR usually processes opportunistic crude to meet its target yield. However, yield pattern of actual operation is given the yields below for Bonny Light:
Product Yield, vol% |
|
LPG- | 4.6 |
LSR | 7.7 |
Heavy Naphtha | 10.0 |
Kerosene | 11.9 |
Gas Oil | 29.8 |
Residue | 31.5 |
Q. What is the pricing formula?
A. The pricing formula is based on import parity.
Q. Is there tax protection for the importation of finished products?
A. There is no tax on imported finished product.
Q. How does TOR market its brands of the finished products?
A. There is no differentiation in the TOR products. But in the long term, it is part of the strategy. TOR used to differentiate but stopped over the years. TOR’s hallmark has to do with the Quality of its products, Participation in international proficiency programs (ASTM Standards). TOR also ensures that Quality Management Systems are in place, with documentation of all schedules in place to meet regulatory standards.
Q. Is the refinery power dependent?
A. TOR generates eighty percent (80%) of its power internally and relies on the national grid for the rest of the twenty percent (20%). TOR intends to be self-sufficient in power generation by the end of 2010 /2011.
Q. What are the utilities / energy capacity of the refinery?
A. About 5.5 megawatts.
Q. What is the power capacity required?
A. 6.5 megawatts.
Q. What kind of generators do we have?
A. The refinery has the steam turbine generators.
Q. What is TOR’s estimated storage reserve?
A. A total of sixty-six product tanks are available at the Refinery for the storage of crude oil and finished products. There are occasions when the plant shut down due to storage constrains.
Q. Is there adequate storage capacity for LPG?
A. TOR has six LPG Spherical tanks. The newly constructed one is yet to be commissioned.
Q. Does Ghana still use leaded gasoline?
A. No, since 2004 Ghana has been using unleaded Gasoline. TOR undertook the project to phase out lead.
Q. What is the octane number of gasoline produced at TOR?
A. 91 RON. However TOR supplies the 95 RON on behalf of bulk supplier to GOIL and TOTAL Ghana. In the long term, it is a strategy that will be pursued. The Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) produces Light naphtha with RON 82 whilst the RFCC Unit produces RON 94. Blending of products is carried out and sold to the market at RON 91.
Q. Does TOR’s products meet international specification?
A. Definitely there are National Standards which TOR meets, and TOR operates within the African Refiners specification AFRI II. The Refinery has plans to meet AFRI V standards in the nearest future.
Q. Who finances the operations of TOR?
A. TOR finances its operations. This is mainly through the sale of products and borrowing from financial institutions. The Company does not receive any form of financial support from the government.
Q. What relationship exit between TOR, the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) and the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company Limited (BOST)?
A. The NPA is a body which oversees the procurement, storage and distribution of both crude oil and finished products. BOST oversees the strategic storage for the Country, whereas TOR refines and processes crude oil into finished products for the nation through the Oil Marketing Companies (OMC’s). NPA is the industry regulator.
Q. Has TOR been impacted in any way by the deregulation of the petroleum industry?
A. Competition has increased as a result of the downstream sector’s deregulation. Bulk Holders have taken away some of our market share. Nonetheless, despite the competition, the Company is increasing both its profitability and performance.
Q. What is the total workforce?
A. A total of approximately Four Hundred and Ninety-Two (492) employees work for the company as of right now.
Q. What is the current state of TOR’s employment opportunities?
A. A strategic approach is used by the Company to choose and hire staff members. If there are any openings, it is advertised internally and externally to invite interested parties to submit application letters.
Q. Does TOR rely on foreign expertise to run its operations?
A. TOR’s Refinery, Terminal, and Storage companies are managed by highly skilled Engineers and Technicians. In accordance with TOR’s Human Resource Planning, Management sends many technicians and engineers at a time for plant and equipment training both domestically and abroad to guarantee that the business has enough people with the necessary expertise to always run the plant. On the other hand, TOR has maintenance and operations agreements with its foreign partners, who support the refinery’s operations as needed.
Q. What are the new projects for which you require investment?
A.
Q. What kind of investment does TOR require?
A. Additional investment required is in the area of;
Hydrotreater to meet Afri-V standard for sulphur as TOR will be processing opportunistic crudes.
Q. What are the options available to TOR in terms of expansion?
A.
Q. What kind of investment relation does TOR require?
A. This is working capital for expansion of the refinery. A Private – Public partnership with TOR=51% and Private =49% Shares
Q. What is the future of TOR?
A. Entering into a partnership agreement with a private investor for leasing or tolling.
Q. What percentage of the market does the refinery meet?
A. About 35% of the market demand.
Q. How is the gap met?
A. This is through the importation of finished products by the Bulk Distribution Companies (BDCs)
Q. How can one obtain a copy of TOR’s annual report, and any other corporate document?
A. One can contact the public Affairs Office at the refinery to receive a hard copy and alternatively, on the TOR website.