The Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) has dismissed suggestions that refinery is down and not processing crude. Chief Executive Officer of TOR, Dr Kwame Ampofo, said the refinery is still operating and constantly takes delivery of fresh crude. Dr Ampofo's comments came after what he said had been a suggestion by the Editor in Chief of the Crusading Guide newspaper, Abdul Malik Kwaku Baako, that the refinery is not in operation. “All our equipment are working very well and we are actually refining,” he told Kwaku Sakyi Addo, host of Joy FM's Saturday news analyses programme News File. Dr Ampofo was however quick to add that TOR faces some challenges, including those the current administration inherited from the previous handlers of the refinery. “Periodically, depending on what challenges we have, we can stop the plant from working; not because it’s not in good technical condition but the situation requires that you stop it,” he said. “We’ve gotten to the point where all the problems that we came to inherit as a refinery, most of them are being [solved] and we’ve gotten to the point that we believe that we can now refine crude oil... “continuously.” On claims that some companies the refinery contracted to supply crude have failed to supply, a situation that is allegedly affecting operations, Dr Ampofo said the necessary contingency measures had been put in place to contain the situation. “Contracting a company to do something for you is one thing and whether they are able to deliver is an entirely different thing,” he said, adding “we have several companies that we contract and if one is not able to deliver the others will deliver.” “The lesson we have learnt is that we have to arrange…in such as way that we will always have backups.” According to him, the refinery will engage local companies and entities that will approach it and prove to have the capacity to supply crude to the refinery. Listen to the audio attachment for more Story by Fiifi Koomson/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana