The tanker Theseus offloaded its cargo of Russian crude into storage tanks at Ghana’s Tema oil refinery over the weekend, after being anchored full off the port since Feb. 24 as it awaited permission to dock.
Vessel-tracking data monitored by Bloomberg show the ship left its initial anchorage Thursday morning and moored at the single-point mooring on Friday afternoon. The SPM is connected to storage tanks at the refinery by a sub-sea pipeline.
The tanker left the SPM on Monday morning, with its draft indicating it had discharged its cargo. It loaded about 600,000 barrels of crude from the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk in late January and is the first observed Russian shipment to the West African country in at least four years, the data show.
Ghana’s National Petroleum Authority granted a delivery period for the cargo to be unloaded, but national security considerations held up the process, according to people familiar with the matter. When the tanker was en route, the head of the NPA said the shipment would be blocked if it were bound for the country.
Clearance was given for the tanker after claims that the cargo was from Kazakhstan, one of the people said. A port agent report for Novorossiysk and data from data intelligence firms Vortexa and Kpler showed it originated from Russia.
The Tema refinery, Ghana’s only major crude processing plant, has been shut for about two years, although the government has given assurances that it will resume this year.
The Accra-based Institute for Energy Security identified Platon Gas Oil Ghana Ltd. as the purchaser of the cargo. The company, which operates a small refinery adjacent to the refinery, leased storage tanks at its larger neighbor, IES Executive Director Nana Amoasi VII previously said in an interview with Ghana’s Citi Newsroom. It would take at least six months for Platon to process the crude, he added.
Latest Stories
-
CAFCC: “Dreams need to score early to unsettle Zamalek” – Former Zamalek striker Felix Aboagye
1 hour -
GHS launches mobile app to counter misinformation about vaccines
1 hour -
Election 2024: Care Ghana warns EC of recruiting political actors as Returning Officers
1 hour -
Mohammed Kudus gets 5th Premier League assist as West Ham hold Liverpool
1 hour -
Religious support source of my success – Asantehene
2 hours -
Sierra Leone energy minister resigns over electricity crisis, as power returns to capital
2 hours -
EC accuses Bright Simons, IMANI Africa of peddling falsehood
2 hours -
GRA/SML contract: Akufo-Addo has whitewashed the KPMG report – Inusah Fuseini
2 hours -
USM Alger receive warm welcome at Oujda Airport ahead of game against RS Berkane
3 hours -
2023/24 Ghana Hockey League to kick-off this weekend
3 hours -
All payments received from our contract with GRA are performance-based, says SML
4 hours -
Marrakech 2024: Ghana’s Zinabu Issah wins gold in women’s discus throw
4 hours -
Our contract with GRA followed due process; ignore contrary reports – SML
4 hours -
SML is just Agyapa in suit and tie – Bright Simons
4 hours -
Domelevo condemns selection of KPMG to audit GRA/SML contract as illegal and unprofessional
5 hours