Tema, March 31, GNA – The Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) has completed 80 per cent of work on the reconstruction of its crude oil furnace, which exploded in January 2017, forcing it to reduce its production.
TOR, the only refinery in Ghana, with a capacity of 45,000 barrels per stream day, is currently producing 26,000 barrels due to the explosion.
Mrs Sika Ramatu Lawson, a Project Electrical Engineer at the Department of Electrical Engineer at TOR, announced this when she led a three-member team of technical ladies in a presentation on the prospects of women in the oil refinery sector at the Ghana News Agency eleventh Stakeholders Engagement.
Mrs Lawson said TOR was hopeful of starting full operation by the end of June when the work on the furnace would be fully completed.
She explained that TOR had two plants made up of the Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) and the Residual Fluid Catalytic Cracker (RFCC), noting when the installation of the furnace was complete, it would give the plants a faster turnaround time to produce at full capacity.
“We have two main plants, the CDU and the RFCC major plants without them we can’t run, currently installations are almost around 80 per cent completion to replace that equipment, which got exploded, with that we can go back doing 45,000 barrel per stream day for the CDU while the RFCC plant does 14,000 barrels,” she added.
Taking participants through the work of TOR, she indicated that the core business of the refinery was to refine crude oil it either acquired or for third parties to be able to serve the Ghanaian market, the sub-region and beyond by marketing the finished products to the Bulk Distribution Companies (BDCs) and the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs).
Talking about women’s prospects in TOR, she said the refinery, which was a purely engineering-oriented field of work, was predominantly male-dominated as fewer women study and work in that area.
She said that the female population ratio at TOR in the past compared to now was very encouraging, explaining that at a point there was only one female engineer among the host of men.
“It is worthy of mention that at the moment in TOR, we have several gallant ladies who apply modern technology in various positions as instrument/electrical technicians and engineers, process technicians, engineers and chemists.
“Laboratory technicians as well as administrators, finance, procurement, insurance professionals, lawyers, and health personnel, all playing sensitive roles in the process delivery,” she added.
Mrs Lawson was accompanied by Miss Matilda Adane Okrah, Maintenance Planner at TOR and Ms Phillipa Joy Essien, TOR’s Learning and Development Officer.
Source: Ghana News Agency
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