Tema, June 16, GNA - The Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) will soon have two additional oil jetties for loading and off-loading of petroleum products to ease congestion on the only one at the Tema Port. Construction of the two off shore terminals, which will accommodate bigger vessels, would be completed by the end of the year, Mr Dennis Baidoo, Export/Import Manager of TOR told newsmen on Wednesday at Tema. He said one of the two off shore terminals is exclusively for crude oil and the other for gasoline or diesel This was at the opening of a two-day workshop organised by TOR for

media personnel to educate them on TOR's operations and processes. Mr Baidoo said after the recent increases in prices of petroleum products, TOR is experiencing decrease in petrol consumption. He, however, could not assign reasons to that, but said TOR is studying the situation, explaining that increases in prices of petroleum products is normally characterised by fall in consumption, but this one has lasted for long.

Before the increases the consumption was between 13,000 and 15,000 metric tonnes a month as against 9,000 and 10,000 metric tonnes after the increase. Dr Kofi Kodua Sarpong, the Managing Director, said TOR being the sole refinery in Ghana recognises its strategic position as a national asset and sees energy as the driving force and the pivot for the economy. Presently, he said, TOR supplies about 85 per cent of the national demand for petroleum products with the shortfall of about 15 per cent bridged by imports of finished products by the oil marketing companies (OMC).

With its economic importance, he said, there was the need for media personnel to understand the sequence of events from procurement of crude to making petroleum products available at filling stations. TOR was incorporated in December 1960 as Ghanaian-Italian Petroleum (GHAIP) Company, Italian owed. In April 1977 the government became the sole shareholder and the name was changed to TOR in 1991.