The Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) is considering listing on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) to attract investment and raise additional capital to finance its recovery, rehabilitation and expansion plans.
The Managing Director of TOR, Mr Edmond Kombat, disclosed this when a delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), led by its Ghana Resident Representative, Dr Adrian Alter, visited the refinery to assess its operations and ongoing rehabilitation works.
Mr Kombat said the proposed listing would enable Ghanaian institutions and other investors to acquire shares in the company, providing an alternative source of funding to strengthen its operations and ensure long-term financial sustainability.
He said the initiative formed part of management’s broader strategy to reposition the refinery after years of operational and financial challenges.
According to him, since assuming office in May 2025, the current management has relied on internally generated funds to sustain operations and rehabilitate critical facilities.
“Since this new management took over, we have not received a dime from the government. Every single thing is done through our internally generated funds,” he said.
Mr Kombat said management was also engaging the government on restructuring TOR’s outstanding debt obligations and reconciling historical financial commitments between the two entities.
He disclosed that the refinery had inherited a debt burden of approximately US$517 million, including about US$120 million owed to the government.
Management was also engaging other state institutions to reconcile outstanding obligations and explore possible netting-off arrangements to establish the actual financial position of the respective parties.
On financial performance, Mr Kombat said TOR recorded a profit in the previous year and expressed optimism that the refinery would sustain profitability in the current and subsequent years.
He attributed the positive outlook partly to improved macroeconomic conditions and management’s efforts to enhance operational efficiency and strengthen financial discipline.
He emphasised that the refinery’s recovery was critical to Ghana’s energy security, particularly in reducing the country’s vulnerability to disruptions in international petroleum markets.
According to him, increased domestic refining could improve the availability of petroleum products and help mitigate the effects of external supply shocks, including those arising from geopolitical tensions.
Mr Kombat said TOR processed about five million barrels of crude oil, including about two million barrels from Ghanaian oil fields.
He said the refinery’s first domestic crude supply came from the Jubilee field through a transaction with Vitol, which had been fully paid for. The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) had also supplied its share of the country’s crude allocation.
He expressed hope that GNPC would make its full crude allocation available to TOR for refining the following year to improve feedstock availability and support more consistent operations.
Mr Kombat also highlighted the refinery’s commercial potential, citing its tank farm, storage infrastructure and product distribution network as important assets that could generate additional revenue.
He said TOR had approximately one million metric tonnes of storage capacity and was connected to eight privately operated depots, enabling it to pump petroleum products directly to those facilities.
He indicated that the arrangements offered additional revenue opportunities, alongside services such as laboratory testing of petroleum products.
On corporate governance, Mr Kombat said the Ghana Audit Service had undertaken an exercise to clear a six-year backlog of unaudited accounts.
He added that management intended to appoint an external audit firm at the refinery’s next Annual General Meeting to handle subsequent audits.
Other measures being pursued include strengthening internal controls, improving financial reporting, implementing staff-related reforms and rehabilitating critical processing units to enhance operational efficiency.
The IMF delegation was briefed on the refinery’s operational and financial position before touring selected facilities to observe the rehabilitation works and assess progress towards restoring reliable operations.
The visit formed part of the Fund’s engagements with selected state-owned enterprises and government authorities to understand their operations, financial positions, challenges and contributions to Ghana’s economy.
TOR is Ghana’s principal oil refinery and plays an important role in the country’s petroleum supply chain and energy security.
