<<Print>>

Over Nine Hundred metric tonnes of crude oil has arrived from Nigeria, courtesy of Sahara Oil. The Public Relations Officer of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), Aba Lokko disclosed this today in an interview on PEACEFM�s �Kokrokoo�. Mrs. Lokko, who confirmed the arrival of the Nine Hundred and Ninety Seven (997,000) barrels of crude oil from Nigeria on-board the vessel, MV Wilhelmina, which is currently berthed at the Tema Port, however, pointed out that this delivery will not be the panacea to the crude oil problems that have afflicted the country. �The Quality Control Laboratory unit will today take a sample to certify it�the arrival of the 997,000 barrels of crude oil will not bring an end to the crises, but will certainly help us for a period as we cast our nets wide to look out for other avenues for more oil�we need a constant and consistent supply of Crude Oil from all sources,� she told Kwami Sefa Kayi, host of the programme. Sahara was formerly lifting oil from Nigeria to Ghana; under a deal they struck with the immediate past government, headed by Mr. John Agyekum Kufuor. The contract was, however, not renewed when it expired. It is not clear whether the oil lifting company came to the country on its own, or was invited by the government. Last week Thursday, the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) boss, Alex Mould, disclosed in an interview on PEACEFM that TOR will only get crude oil to refine somewhere in December. Touching on why government abrogated its contract with Sahara Oil, Mr. Mould explained that �the Sahara contract is a management contract which is back to back with a government to government contract, so once the government to government contract expires, the management contact is also automatically terminated�the Sahara contract is a contract to manage another contract�if the contract which is being managed does not exist then basically the initial contract does not exist." Mould also stated that �no bank was willing to open letters of credit until certain things were done in the balance sheet of TOR�. The arrival of yesterday�s consignment is believed to have resulted from a temporary arrangement government put in place to ensure regular supply of crude oil ahead of the government-to-government deal. With this latest development, senior government officials connected to the oil import will heave a sigh of relief, especially in the face of threats of industrial action by TOR staff, backed by TDCL. The unions had issued an ultimatum at a meeting an ultimatum at a meeting held between the two bodies on Friday, a day after the President had met and interacted with workers of TOR.