TOR workers will picket in public locations beginning in May.

TOR employees will picket in public locations beginning May 2.

Workers of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) will picket at six public locations in Tema from Tuesday, May 2, to Friday, May 5, 2023, in support of their demands that the government revamp the Refinery's operations.

Between 06:00 and 11:00, forty employees would picket simultaneously at the Motorway Roundabout, Rana Roundabout, Valco Roundabout, MPS Roundabout, Hospital Roundabout, and Community 5 Traffic Light.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Tema, Mr. Bernard Owusu, National Chairman of the GTPCWU, disclosed that the venues were agreed upon with the Ghana Police Service after they wrote to inform them of their plans in accordance with the Public Order Act.

Mr. Owusu stated that the picketing was part of a series of actions designed to exert pressure on the government to immediately resume operations at the non-functional Refinery, which had been dormant for some time.

He noted that the employees would be positioned at these vantage points with placards to make their demands known.

He disclosed that the Union also consulted with the refinery's management and held a fruitful meeting with the Minister of Energy to discuss the refinery's operations overhaul.

These engagements and planned picketing follow a press conference held by the workers to air their grievances regarding the non-functionality of the Refinery, which has the capacity to refine 45,000 barrels of crude oil per day but is only carrying finished products rather than fulfilling its core mission of refining crude.

According to the workers, TOR could supply 50 percent of the country's total domestic consumption, 100 percent of the Residual Fuel Oil (RFO) for industrial operations, 20 to 25 percent of LPG consumption, and 100 percent of Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK) at full capacity.

They noted that Ghana required approximately $4.8 billion annually to import petroleum products, adding that if TOR was fully operational, the foreign exchange requirement for petroleum product imports would be reduced by more than 50 percent.

Due to the elimination of certain import duties, including the freight rate of approximately $92/Mt for gasoline, $101/Mt for diesel, and $83/Mt for LPG, domestic ex-pump prices decreased.