The Tema Oil Refinery has received 950,000 barrels of light sweet crude oil from the Sankofa-Gye Nyame fields offshore Cape Three Points in the Western Region of Ghana. The parcel of crude oil which was received by TOR on Friday as part of a strategic partnership between the refinery and Ghana National Petroleum Corporation was described as ‘historic’ by the Managing Director Edmund Kombat as the Sonangol Cazenga shipping vessel docked at the Port of Tema.

Mr. Kombat who was there to receive the vessel alongside some members of TOR management and personnel from the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority observed the successful shipment of crude oil to the state-owned oil refinery in Tema marked the first time crude oil from Sankofa-Gye Nyame was received by a Ghanaian refinery describing this milestone as an opportunity for TOR to strengthen its operations “while contributing to Ghana’s broader objective of building a resilient and sustainable petroleum industry”, a statement by the refinery said.

Since it restarted operations in 2025 after many years of dormancy leading to its near collapse, the Tema Oil Refinery has already received 3 separate shipments of crude oil from Ghana’s upstream petroleum industry with the most recent being one million barrels of medium sweet crude from Jubilee field on July 15 this year. Under the Mahama administration’s reset agenda of building a stable economy that prioritises on value addition to Ghana’s natural resources and creating a stronger currency to the greater benefit by Ghanaian citizens, the government is leading a bold vision of linking the upstream to the mid and downstream sectors by ensuring all the value in the nation’s petroleum resources ultimately benefit Ghanaians.

Mr. Kombat underscored the close relationship between TOR and GNPC which has reinforced the strategic importance of local crude oil to Ghana’s energy sector. For him, that partnership demonstrates potential for stronger cooperation between upstream and downstream petroleum operators to improve crude oil supply, support refinery operations and create greater value from the country’s natural resources.