The Minister of Trade and Industry, Kobina Tahir Hammond has paid a working visit to the Sentuo Oil Refinery Ltd. (SORL), touting the project as a good prospect to see to an end Ghana’s refinery problems.

The project which is in accordance with government’s “One District One Factory” (1D1F) development policy, will produce/refine 5 Million tons of all types of Crude Assays Per Annum, With an Output Of 3.2 Million tons of Refined Petroleum Products such as; Gasoline, Kerosene and Diesel of high quality above the Euro IV Standard.

In addition, the refinery will produce 350,000 tons of a series of Pitch Products, 200,000 tons of lubricating Base Oil and Solvent Naphtha and 400,000 tons of By-Products such as Polypropylene, Liquefied Gas, Ammonium Sulphate, Sulfuric Acid and Sulphur when the two Phases of the Project is fully completed and Commissioned.

Mr Hammond after his tour round the facility was full of praise for the investors describing the project as a classical example of the President’s industrialization/developmental agenda at the backdrop of the 1D1F.

“I am overwhelmed by this huge structure. I have been seeing images of the plant and today I decided to pay a visit to see progress of work and in fact I’m impressed with what I’ve seen so far."

The Minister lamented over the huge amount of money that goes into the importation of refined oil and gas products annually in the country and expressed optimism this project has come at the opportune time to address this challenge.

The Minister was met on an arrival by top delegation from the Sentua Group led by the Chairman, XU NING QUAN. Also present to usher the Minister on the tour and lead the presentations were: Rev. Dr. George Dawson-Ahmoah, Corporate Affairs Management Consultant, Mr. George Andoh, Technical Advisor and other top official of the Sentuo Group.

In his welcome address Chairman of the Sentuo Group, XU NING QUAN said the Sentuo Group has Ghana at heart and this informed its decision to invest in vital sectors of the economy for accelerated development.

The Sentuo Oil Refinery in particular he informed was born out of the need to boost Ghana’s energy sector taking into consideration refining quality oil and Gas products at affordable prices as well.

XU NING QUAN was upbeat the project will impact positively in terms of revenue generation (taxes, levies etc.), create massive employment, foreign exchange savings, value to customers (lower prices, superior quality products, local crude oil) and institution of community relations and CSR activities with focus areas including: Health, Education, Sanitation and Social/Humanitarian.

XU NING QUAN however called for an immediate attention/solution to challenges including: Test Run Permits (NPA), Natural Gas Connectivity and Supply, Access to Foreign Exchange, Crude oil supply support (local & foreign), tax waiver on materials, equipment & machinery (Phase II) and motorable access roads all in a bid to provide a smooth operation of the project.

On his part, Rev. Dr George Dawson-Ahmoah, said to avoid unfair trade practices and considering the magnitude of impact the facility would make in the downstream petroleum industry, it was imperative that effective steps were taken to ensure that domestic refining of petroleum products was not adversely affected by dumping, countervailing or importation.

The Technical Advisor of the project, George Andoh was optimistic the new refinery would help the country to cut its long-standing dependence on imported gasoline and diesel supplies, and save the country the millions of dollars spent to import finished petroleum products.

Mr Hammond said the presence of the facility in Ghana, driven by the One district, One factory initiative, was an example of President Akufo-Addo's vision for Ghana as far as the development of the country was concerned.