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Tema Oil Refinery
Entity
Tema Oil Refinery Limited
Refining and Chemicals Operations
/ Tema
TOR Building, Tema Oil Refinery Heavy Industrial Area, Valco Road
https://torghana.gov.gh
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#SI568

Description


Tema Oil Refinery | Credit: CITI NEWSROOM

The refinery features a 45,000 barrel per stream day (bpsd) Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) and a 14,000 bpsd Residue Fluid Catalytic Cracker (RFCC) unit that converts atmospheric residue to higher-value finished products including. Storage facilities include capacity for 260,000 tonnes of white products and 1.93 million barrels of crude oil. TOR is renowned for producing high-quality Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK), which is among the best in Africa and fuels all airlines operating in Ghana.

After lying idle for over six years, TOR resumed crude oil refining operations in late December 2025 following extensive rehabilitation works. Operations restarted at approximately 28,000 bpsd on December 21, 2025, with plans to commission a new furnace (F-61) to increase capacity to 45,000-55,000 bpsd. The revival was achieved through strategic planning, disciplined management, staff promotions affecting over 250 employees, and implementation of strict accountability measures.

Design Evolution Summary

Year Event Significance
1963 Original commissioning
as GHAIP		 Hydro-skimming CDU, 28,000 bpsd;
ENI/AGIP design
1977 CDU revamp (Phase 1 expansion) Capacity raised to 45,000 bpsd
1989–1990 Phase 1 rehabilitation LPG distribution improvement;
$36 million investment
2002 RFCC commissioned Samsung Corp (South Korea);
$230M financing;
added 14,000 bpsd conversion capacity
2025 TAM completion + F-61 furnace CDU restarted at 28,000 bpsd;
ramp to 45,000 bpsd pending furnace tie-in
2026+ Air-cooler installation Target 60,000 bpsd

Utilities & Supporting Infrastructure

Unit Detail
Power Generation — Boilers Three steam boilers, each 70 t/hr gross installed capacity
+ one newer 120 t/hr gross boiler (total ~330 t/hr gross) 
Power Generation — Generators Two generators: 5.5 MW and 6.5 MW 
(total 12 MW on-site generation) 
Crude pipeline Connected to dedicated oil jetty at the Port of Tema via multi-diameter pipelines for crude import and product export 
Product pipeline Tema–Akosombo oil products pipeline (construction began January 1992) to carry refined products inland to Akosombo Port for onward distribution 
Site area 440,000 m² (44 hectares) 

Product Slate

All products produced across the CDU and RFCC combined:

 
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Tema Oil Refinery | Credit: CITI NEWSROOM

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Title Date
  UserPic Idle refinery in plans to restart 7/17/2022
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Modified by UserPic   Kokel, Nicolas 5/27/2026 2:44 PM
Added by UserPic   Braun, Uwe 7/17/2022 3:56 PM