Ghanaians are about to get a break from the fuel

Sentuo Oil Refinery (SOR) is the first refinery built on Ghanaian soil in almost 60 years. The construction, commissioning, start up and full operation of Sentuo Oil Refinery will be an important accomplishment for the country.

This modern refinery, once in full operation, will have a capacity of 100,000 barrels per day. This will save Ghanaians millions of dollars daily and relief pressure on the cedi from imported refined petroleum products–important to note that petroleum products are the most imported commodities into the country.

As a nation, our current fuel consumption demand is 65,000 barrels per day of refined petroleum products. At today’s price of crude oil on the world market of $90 per barrel, it will cost about $5.8 million daily to import crude oil to refine. Comparable to the $7.8 million we are presently spending daily to import refined fuel such as diesel and petrol at about $120 per barrel.

The refinery will save the country $730 million annually for just purchasing crude oil to refine instead of refined fuel. Not taking into consideration the many employment, tax revenue and economic gains that will be generated.

There will be even more benefits in terms of energy security if we use our own crude oil to feed the refinery. It will free the economy from the volatile world crude oil market and imports. Eventually, enabling the government to meet the energy demands and needs of Ghanaians.

Why ship out our crude oil for export if we can refine it locally? Ghanaians gain from adding value to our resources. The government stands to benefit economically from the refinery in the long run through taxation and job creation.

Aside from the employment benefits the refinery will provide, it will also produce feed stock for many petrol chemical industries. These industries when operating, will free us from more imports. The derivative benefit will also contribute to our economic growth, it will help integrate our economy and maximize our resources.

This emphasizes the importance for the government to fully support the project and take the necessary measures to speed up the process to sell some of its crude oil to the new refinery.

Currently, Ghana produces 170,000 barrels of crude oil per day from its oilfields. This way, the price of fuel will stabilize and kick start the economic recovery that the country needs to secure its finances and energy future.