DANGER IS looming at the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), following flooding of a section of the pipelines that carry products from the oil jetty at the Tema Port to the refinery.
The flooding is conspicuously advertising the corrosion of the pipelines and the possibility of another devastating fire, since leaked products have found their way to the surface of what has now become a pond. The source of the emerging water is immediately not established, but what is clear is that it is coming from underground.
The Chronicle�s on-going investigations at TOR revealed that after the fire of 29th April, 2014, when the naphtha line leaked, TOR excavated and removed concrete slabs that were placed on the buried lines on which a rail track laid. Water then started gathering till it formed a pond that submerged the pipes.
For unknown reasons, little attention was paid to the problem and it has now developed into a monster. This comes in the wake of our earlier report that the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) pipeline is weak and need to be worked on, but would face a herculean task. Engineers at TOR, who are planning the rehabilitation on the LPG line, arrived at the site, after our report, as part of feasibility studies and were shocked at the discovery that the lines were buried under the flood.
As a short term measure, a portable submersible pump is being used to pump out the water containing the cream of products towards the refinery�s municipal drains, posing yet another threat to persons and industrial installations downstream. Our investigations reveal that in this state, the lines are going to decay and rust faster, which will lead to loss of products, as a result of leakage especially, when under high pressure.
The Chronicle also detected that apart from the scene of the fire which was weeded, the entire remaining lines towards the Tema Community One Railway Station are in complete bush, infested with reptiles, thereby making it difficult for security guards to even get closer, to observe whether there was a leakage or its potential. The refinery, Chronicle gathers, is so broke to the extent that it has no funds to embark on any major maintenance work on the pipes that would involve replacement of these lines.
Last week, TOR, in desperation to grab some cash, refined 4,500 metric tons of crude oil to offset an obligation with a financial institution which is considering a bail-out for the �orphaned� strategic installation. The Chronicle, which is undertaking a �surgical operation� on the refinery, uncovered that due to its inability to function and make money, its external insurers are allegedly threatening to remove their cover because TOR allegedly insured the place for only half of the year.
The investigations further revealed that as part of conditions, the external insurers required TOR to undertake a complete shutdown after every 18 months for maintenance, but over the last six (6) years, the refinery has not met that condition. What is now holding back the external insurers from removing the cover and possibly shutting down the entire system is pleadings from the top of the refinery that it has subjected critical equipment to routine maintenance.
But for how long would the insurers continue to swallow that bait, is the worry of the workers� leadership. When contacted, a senior management person who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed that there are correspondences from the external insurers threatening a pull out of their services. He, however, stated that TOR, as an entity, for the greater part of these years, has not been on stream and that maintenance is rather the main core of everyday business and that, it would not be fair for the insurers to carry out their threats.
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