Sentuo Oil Refinery has appealed to the government to price local crude oil in Ghana cedis for the two local refineries, saying the current pricing model is resulting in losses due to cedi-dollar exchange rate differentials on every tonne of crude refined.

The call comes as management reveals that the current pricing model is resulting in losses due to cedi-dollar exchange rate differentials on every tonne of refined crude.

Sentuo Oil Refinery’s exposure to severe exchange-rate losses stems from a structural and legal requirement forcing local refineries to purchase Ghanaian crude oil, including sweet crude from the Jubilee Field, in US dollars.

According to management of Sentuo, although the company pays for the domestic product in cedis, the original price is normally pegged in dollars, requiring the company to convert cedis into dollars at usually high rates to pay for the product.

Executive Chairman of Sentuo Group, Xu Ningquan, made this known during a meeting with the Energy Committee of Parliament on September 23.

He said the company is currently producing 40,000 barrels and plans to add another 60,000 barrels to scale up its capacity to 100,000 barrels.

Mr Ningquan called on the government to intervene and impress upon the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) to sell local crude to local refineries.