The Minister of Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh said his efforts to revamp the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) have been thwarted by the company's continued mismanagement.

According to the Minister, he presented an opportunity to TOR to refine all condensates into premix fuel and use the revenues to start settling its debts as the government works to pay help the rest.

However, the Minister said all $2.5 million worth of products has never been accounted for.

"I gave TOR a new business opportunity in the premix fuel market, that all the condensates from Ghana Gas should go to TOR for them to use it for blending and premix fuel. The last time I heard, over $2.5 million worth of condensate has got missing from TOR," the Minister stated.

He continued that "If we all want TOR working; we don't want another ECG on tour, do we? Because it will break the back of the government. They have over $500 million in debt sitting there. Go and look at how the debts are accumulated. People bring their crude to refine, and there are crude losses.

"I set up a committee that worked for eight months just trying to reconcile TOR losses. We don't pay taxes for it to be a drain. You pay taxes for the efficient functioning of government," Dr Prempeh said.

The Minister, however, assures that the government is considering some proposals to help restore the oil refinery.

"Government, I can tell you, is doing so much work to bring TOR together. As we speak, there are proposals lying down in TOR. The Attorney General is having a look, CEGA is having a look, and the finance ministry. We will do all we can to bring it back.

Dr Matthew Opoku-Prempeh was speaking to journalists during the ECG revenue recovery exercise.

TOR was disconnected by ECG two weeks ago for owing the power producer 26 million cedis.