"We�ll Auction Assets Of OMCs"�TOR MD

The management of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), is threatening to auction off assets of defaulting Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) to defray the mounting debt hindering their operations. The Chief Executive Officer of TOR, Dr. Kwame Ampofo, who disclosed this in an interview with Kwami Sefa Kayi on �Kokrokoo�, also gave a November deadline to the guilty OMCs. �We�re waiting up till maybe November. At the beginning of November, they�ll be served, we�ll take them to court and take over their assets and auction their assets and take our money back,� he warned. The Daily Graphic in its 30th Sept., 2009, edition, reported that fuel supply to 19 OMCs in the country has been cut by the TOR for accumulated debt of GH�53,820,245.41. The report said, apart from the 19 OMCs which were heavily indebted to TOR and whose supplies had been completely cut, two other companies had been put on what it termed �allocation� list, in which case, TOR would determine the quantum of petroleum products to supply the two companies and not what they would request. The 19 firms are Excel, Galaxy, Havilah, Manbah Gas Co. Ltd, Nasona, Sonnidom, Top Oil and Universal. Others are Deliman Co. Ltd. Q8 Oil Gh. Ltd, Unique Oil Co. Ltd., Sky Petroleum Ltd and Merchant Oil. The rest are Lambark Gas Ltd, Champion Oil Co. Ltd, Rural Energy, AP Oil and Gas, Deebabs Energy and Trading and Jusbro Petroleum Co. Ltd. The TOR MD pointed out that they had to resort to this decision of cutting supply to the defaulters OMCs following their lack of financial discipline and bad business relations with TOR. ��we at TOR have embarked on an exercise to cut off a number of OMCs that actually owes us so much money and doesn�t appear that they�re taking repayment seriously, so we cannot continue to do business with them�we�ve cut them off�they�re filling stations that actually have been taken off the supply chain because of their financial indiscipline and the bad business relations with TOR,� he said.