Last Updated- Jun 4, 2009 19:41 - - 0 Comments


Ghana to triple oil refinery capacity

Ghana plans to more than triple its domestic oil refining capacity as it looks for ways to capitalize on its recent crude discovery, Deputy Energy Minister Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah said.

“What we are looking to do is expand our refining capability to 145,000 barrels a day,” he said in an interview in Takoradi late yesterday. Ghana currently refines about 45,000 barrels a day at its only refinery, located at Tema, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) east of the capital, Accra.

The state-run refinery supplies about 70 percent of Ghana’s petroleum needs and refining could become a new source of income, Buah said. “The market around us is so huge, we should refine enough to export to our neighbors,” he said.

Ghana, the world’s second-largest cocoa producer, hopes increased oil revenue will help shore up a faltering economy which has seen a depreciating domestic currency boost annual inflation to 20.5 percent in March.

The West African nation is seeking private investors to build three or four refineries, Buah said. At least one will be located in the country’s Western region, the site of the Jubilee offshore oil field.

Oil production from the field is expected to start in late 2010, U.K.-based explorer Tullow Oil Plc said on Oct. 1. Ghana wants at least one new refinery operating by the time output begins, Buah said. While 10 companies have expressed an interest, only three are “serious” bidders, he said.

A group of investors is spending $3.1 billion on Jubilee, which has up to 1.8 billion barrels of oil reserves, the state- run Ghana National Petroleum Corp. said yesterday.

Source: Bloomberg

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