The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers Ghana (COPEC) has called on government to, as a matter of urgency, save the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) from collapsing.

According to the Executive Secretary of the Chamber, Duncan Amoah, government must invest in the oil refinery to make it efficient to avert the problem TOR is currently facing.

In an interview with GhanaWeb, he said,“We would want to beg of authorities to pay critical attention to TOR immediately because the stories coming out of TOR, they leave a lot to be desired and we want to see some action going on in there. If some investments are also possible to be made in the immediate circumstances to bring TOR to some efficient profitable ways, we should do and not allow this national asset collapse on our hands”.

Mr Amoah disclosed that the plant at TOR has been shut down because government wants to use the place as a tank farm.

Meanwhile, the refinery has incurred loses instead of being profitable to the nation, hence, the need for government to pay critical attention to it, he stated.

The rapid downfall of the refinery has affected the salaries of workers as well as their workflow as workers now operate on a weekly, bi-weekly and monthly basis.

“The fortunes of TOR keep dwindling. As we speak, workers’ salaries are delaying, products that others have even indicated that they were bringing for refining so that TOR can get some tolling, they are refusing because the refinery has become highly inefficient,” he added.

The Tema Oil Refinery was shut down in 2018 due to the lack of crude oil which serves as raw material for the refinery.