The General Transport and Petroleum Chemical Workers Union has raised concerns about the state of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), alleging mismanagement by the Board of Directors and opposing the proposed lease deal with Torentco Asset Management Group.
In an interview on Eyewitness News on Citi FM, the Union’s National Chairman, Bernard Owusu, took a dig at the TOR Board for failing to get a “genuine partner” to revive the refinery and called for its dissolution.
“The Board of Tema Oil Refinery has exhibited some sort of incompetent attitude that we have been complaining about for the past 18 months, and it seems like authorities are not adhering to our call. A board that has been instituted for almost 2 years, has not been able to get a very genuine partner to take over the affairs of the refinery to ensure that the refinery runs smoothly,” Owusu said.
He lamented that activities at the refinery are now in limbo due to the inadequacies of the Board.
“You heard a few months ago that electricity at the refinery was shut down. The place is a mess as we speak. We are supposed to run TOR efficiently by policy and guidance from the board and management, but as we speak now, the refinery is in limbo,” he bemoaned.
Owusu also kicked against the Torentco deal, stressing that Torentco lacks the capacity and technical know-how to run the affairs of the refinery.
“We have chanced upon a report, and it has clearly stated that this company called Torentco Asset Management lacks the capacity, and technical how to run the affairs of the refinery. So we made a request to the board, through the Ministry of Energy and Trades Union Congress to send our appeal to the authorities that the company that the board is bent on working with has issues.
“Only for us to be told that this same company that was formed last year, has now changed its form to another company called Tema Energy Processing Limited. And it has floated shares and out of that the refinery workers have been given some part of the shares of 20%. And 40% of the shares have been given to Torentco and 40% given to another company”.
Under the terms of the lease, Torentco Asset Management Group will pay $22 million to lease the refinery for six years. The group is expected to refine up to 8 million barrels annually and will be required to pay an annual rent of $1 million, along with an additional monthly rent of $1.067 million.
