TOR receives historic 950K barrels of GNPC’s Sankofa crude as Kombat says Nkrumah’s vision is realised

The Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) has received approximately 950,000 barrels of light sweet crude oil from Ghana’s Sankofa-Gye Nyame field, marking the first time the refinery has received a cargo from the field for refining.

The crude, supplied by the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and transported aboard the Sonangol Cazenga, was received at TOR on September 25, 2026, under a commercial arrangement between the two state institutions.

The delivery was marked by an inspection of the vessel by a team led by GNPC Chief Executive Kwame Ntow Amoah and TOR Managing Director Edmond Kombat.

Speaking at the event, Mr Kombat described the delivery as a historic moment for Ghana and said the locally produced crude would now be refined for the domestic market.

“Today is a historical day for Ghana. It is something that Kwame Nkrumah dreamed off when he established Tema Oil Refinery in 1963,” he said.

He said the shipment demonstrated the importance of linking Ghana’s upstream oil production with domestic refining.

“The President's whole agenda has been to ensure that there is value addition locally,” he said. “The President is stopping that from happening, by making sure that Ghanaian crude that we are producing in Ghana is being brought to a Ghanaian refinery to be refined by Ghanaian engineers for Ghanaian consumers.”

Mr Kombat said the arrangement could help retain more value within the country while reducing some costs associated with transporting crude from overseas.

Mr Kombat said the Sankofa crude was particularly suitable for TOR because it is light and sweet.

“This particular crude is very good for TOR, because it's a sweet, light crude,” he said.

According to him, the cargo is expected to yield approximately 70 million litres of gasoline, 59 million litres of gas oil and 15 million litres of aviation fuel, in addition to a significant quantity of LPG.

He also noted that TOR is currently the only refinery in Ghana with the capacity to produce aviation turbine fuel (ATF).

GNPC said the commercial arrangement provides a dependable domestic market for Ghana’s crude while supporting efforts to process more of the country’s petroleum resources locally. The corporation also said discussions are ongoing with TOR on additional areas of cooperation, including possible natural gas supply to support refinery operations.

Mr Kombat said the partnership between the two institutions could support the continued operation of TOR and contribute to Ghana’s broader efforts to strengthen its domestic petroleum value chain.

“This is history, and from today onwards, forever, Ghanaians will have the confidence, they will have the belief that all the raw materials, all the things that we produce in country that we are always quick to export and bring in finished products, we can actually add the value on them in Ghana to benefit Ghanaians,” he said.

GNPC has confirmed that the Sankofa cargo was fully paid for through a Letter of Credit accepted by the corporation, with no debt exposure arising from the transaction.