The Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) is experiencing serious crude oil shortages forcing sections of panicking management to raise alarm that the refinery is in deep crises. In exclusive interview with The Enquirer, sections of the management revealed that the situation is so precarious that the refinery is presently going through what they call "start-stop-start" system because of inconsistent supply of crude oil. They told The Enquirer that the plant for crude oil refinery was shut down from July 15 to August 5, this year due to lack of crude oil. According to The Enquirer, in spite of the panic which has engulfed a section of the management over the situation, the Chief Executive Officer of TOR, Dr. Kofi Konadu Sarpong, was uncharitable towards those raising the alarm. "The alarm raised by those who gave you the story is nonsense," the paper quotes him as saying over the phone. However The Enquirer said its sources at TOR have it that work at the refinery resumed on August 6, this year but only for a very short period. The paper said there is also murmuring within the corridors of the Ministry of Energy that government is finding it difficult to raise the necessary foreign exchange for the importation of crude oil. The paper quotes its TOR sources as saying that the refinery received supply of crude oil on August 28, this year and even with that one, only one parcel was received, a situation they said was inadequate. The paper gathered at the refinery that TOR is now heavily relying on finished products from private suppliers for income generation. "TOR is really having cash flow difficulties and nobody is prepared to tell Ghanaians what is exactly happening at the nation's oil refinery," the sources said. The Enquirer was told that there is low morale among some of the senior staff as a result of changes in their End of Service Benefits (ESB). It was gathered that hitherto, management members and other senior staff were to take home thirty months salary in what is known as "handshake" after successfully serving the refinery. But the practice, according to the paper, has changed to eighteen months, leading to murmurs among the management. When The Enquirer contacted Dr. Sarpong, he went on the offensive and said that what they management members were saying was "thrash". In an interview via phone, Dr. Sarpong told the paper that he could not conjure crude oil when the supplies from Nigeria were not forthcoming. "You little boy sitting somewhere must be seriously educated on the operations of TOR before you can make any sensible story," he told the paper’s reporter. "If whoever brought you the story is sitting in front of you tell that person to come and face me if he is not coward," he added. The paper said later on the phone when Dr. Sarpong's temper had come down, he told The Enquirer that all is very well with TOR. "Things have improved so much that none of our bankers have stopped given us money to run the place," he added. Dr. Sarpong however refused to answer what the total debt of TOR was. "Look here, I don't discuss TOR debt in the newspapers because of its effect on the refinery," he screamed. Dr. Sarpong, then went back softly and told the paper that he believed in good management and that those raising the alarm are just not prepared to adapt to change. He said that he was prepared to meet with anybody with problems at the refinery since transparency is part of his administration. "Junior officers and management and all at the refinery can attest to the fact that I am very open-minded person," he said. Source: The Enquirer