The Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) has shut down its operations again five months after it began operations.

TOR attributes the shutdown of the unit used in working on the residual fuel to unstable power supply and delays in carrying out maintenance works on the Residue Fluid Catalytic Cracking unit, used in working on residual fuel at the plant . 

Director of Communications at TOR, Aba Lokko, said she was hopeful the situation will improve soon, as management is working to secure some credit from the Ministry of Finance.

The development could have implications on current supply of products on the market as TOR current supplies about 30 percent of the petroleum products at current capacity.

TOR recently started operations after receiving some barrels of crude oil last year.

 It also created a new entity that will serve as the trading arm of TOR, whilst the refinery concentrates on just working on crude oil.

The joint venture company TOR PF, a partnership between TOR and Petro Saudi, will be responsible for selling the finished products to Oil Marketing Companies and importers of petroleum products.

Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) Limited is the only refinery in Ghana authorised to process crude oil and market petroleum products.