Omanghana
President John Dramani Mahama has directed the government to review the payment system for crude oil supplied to domestic refineries, questioning why local facilities must obtain foreign currency to purchase crude produced in Ghana.
The President issued the directive during the commissioning of the refurbished Crude Distillation Unit at the Tema Oil Refinery over the weekend.
He instructed the Minister for Energy and Green Transition, Dr. John Abdulai Jinapor, to explore practical arrangements that would allow domestic refineries to purchase Ghana’s Jubilee Medium Sweet crude oil using Ghana Cedis instead of US dollars.
Under the existing petroleum revenue management framework, payments for the state’s crude oil entitlement are required to be made in foreign currency.
President Mahama questioned the justification for maintaining that arrangement when domestic refineries process the crude locally and sell the resulting petroleum products in Cedis.
He argued that requiring local facilities to search for scarce US dollars before purchasing domestically produced crude creates an unnecessary foreign exchange bottleneck and increases their operational costs.
A shift towards Cedi-denominated payments could reduce demand for foreign currency and ease pressure on the local currency, particularly during periods when refineries are purchasing large volumes of crude oil.
The proposed review is expected to cover both state-owned and privately operated refineries, including the Tema Oil Refinery and Sentuo Oil Refinery.
President Mahama also commended TOR’s management for restoring operations and refurbishing key infrastructure without receiving a government bailout.
According to the President, the refinery’s recovery demonstrates that strategic state institutions can become commercially viable when managed with professionalism, discipline and limited political interference.
Since May 2026, TOR has reportedly received three separate consignments of one million barrels each, comprising Bonga, Baleine and Ghana’s Jubilee crude oil.
The refinery has already processed two million barrels into commercial petroleum products, marking significant progress in efforts to restore its role in Ghana’s downstream petroleum industry.
The government has also tasked the Ministry of Energy and Green Transition with developing a strategic expansion plan to increase TOR’s processing capacity to 100,000 barrels per day.
The proposed expansion is expected to strengthen domestic refining, reduce Ghana’s reliance on imported petroleum products and support the country’s energy-security agenda.
Allowing refineries to purchase locally produced crude in Cedis could also help retain more economic value within Ghana, improve access to raw materials and make domestic fuel production more competitive.
The Energy Ministry is expected to examine the legal, fiscal and regulatory implications of the proposal before recommending a payment framework that protects petroleum revenues while supporting local refining operations.
Source: Omanghana
