By: OrePulse

Ghana's Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) received a 950,000-barrel cargo of light sweet crude produced at the Sankofa-Gye Nyame field, the refinery announced on September 25, the first time a domestic refinery has taken in oil pumped from that offshore field.

The crude, drawn from the Sankofa-Gye Nyame development in the Offshore Cape Three Point (OCTP) block, arrived in a shipment supplied by Sonangol Cazenga. TOR described the cargo as a milestone for the plant, which restarted refining operations in late December 2025 after a period offline and has since processed Bonga crude imported from Nigeria and Jubilee crude from Ghana's own Jubilee field.

TOR said the delivery formed part of a broader push to diversify its crude feedstock, strengthen domestic refining capacity and bolster Ghana's energy security by reducing dependence on imported oil. The refinery framed the partnership with GNPC as a way to deepen ties between Ghana's upstream exploration and production activities and its downstream refining sector, so that more value from the country's own crude resources is captured within the domestic economy rather than exported unprocessed.

TOR's managing director said the tie-up with GNPC showed what closer cooperation between upstream and downstream operators could achieve, citing gains in crude supply reliability, refinery operations, and overall value creation from Ghana's petroleum resources. The Sankofa cargo, the managing director added, gave TOR a chance to strengthen its operations while contributing to a more resilient and sustainable national petroleum industry.

The refinery said it and GNPC were exploring additional areas of cooperation beyond this initial delivery, without providing further detail on what those might involve.

TOR's managing director credited the deal's backers, thanking President John Dramani Mahama and Energy Minister John Abdulai Jinapor, as well as GNPC's leadership. The managing director also singled out Fujairah and Triangle Commodities Trading, which toll crude for TOR, as continued supporters of the refinery.

The Sankofa-Gye Nyame cargo adds a third crude stream to TOR's processing rotation, alongside Bonga and Jubilee. The refinery is currently running at a throughput of about 28,000 barrels per stream day.