NPA Boss Deliberately Collapsing TOR- Former Union Chairman

A Former local Union Chairman of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) Albert Apinto has accused the Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Authority, Alex Mould of scheming to keep the Refinery in its dormancy because he is secretly benefitting from the Refinery�s current difficulties. TOR has not been able to refine crude since July 2012 due to broken down equipment. The only state-run Refinery now relies on imported finished products brought in by private oil companies. Albert Apinto alleges that the NPA Boss who recently called for the privatization of the Refinery has a personal interest in selling it off. Mr Apinto who has worked with TOR for 34 years told Adom FM on February 20, 2013 that the Refinery�s current difficulties can be put down to politics. �Its politics being played on the refinery�, Apinto said, adding that: �It is a deliberate attempt by some people who have a hidden agenda to profit individually�[they] are supporting the private oil importers to bring in products with the excuse that TOR is not profitable�. The former Union Chairman who is currently the Vice Chairman of the Tema District Council of Labour named the NPA Boss as one of those people with the alleged hidden and parochial agenda to keep the Refinery in its current predicament. �We can say without fear that Alex Mould himself is number one�, Mr Apinto strongly asserted demanding that: �Government should find out from Alex Mould who are the hidden directors of ECO-petroleum, that company which also brings in finished products�. ��The President should find out from him because�when TOR was preparing premix for the Government to be supplied, the under recovery, which is the amount to pay on the subsidy was not forthcoming but with ECO-Petroleum taking over the preparation and supply of premix onto the market, they should find out from him whether they are still owing that company�. �All the BDCS that are bringing in the finished products, it is TOR Laboratory that carries out the analysis for them, it is the Tema Oil Refinery that stores the products, it is the same TOR that�distributes the fuel to Tanker Drivers and so there is no hidden thing within the petroleum sector that the workers of TOR don�t know�, adding that: ��If you are doing something and you think we in TOR don�t know, you are a big liar�. �We the workers in the Refinery, all the Bulk Oil Refineries, we know who and who are behind this�, Mr Apinto asserted. ��We heard mould saying the refinery should be sold�we are saying it is just politics�. Mr Apinto claims Mr Alex Mould was part of a meeting held between then Vice President John Mahama and the workers of TOR at which gathering it was made clear that TOR needed 67 million dollars to retool the Refinery. The TDC Vice Chairman said last year the government gave 30 million Dollars of that amount to fix the broken down Reactor of TOR with a promise to release the balance of 37 million dollars by the end of the first quarter in 2013 to retool the Refinery �and so if Mr Alex Mould who was part of that meeting today should turn round and be saying that it is not viable to operate the Refinery then we see him as a modern day political Pharisee who just wants to protect his job and convince the President that he is hard working and that he must be maintained�. �...They should find out from Mr Alex Mould why still people are not getting petrol in the villages; they know what is happening�, alleging that: �People who are to take kerosene to the villages�have depots all around Tema and they have been grading the kerosene with gas oil and the kerosene will not reach the villages and he is aware�, and asked: �What is he doing about that?� Mr Apinto suggested that one way of saving the Refinery from corrosion as a result of its dormancy, will be for the government to compel the Bulk Oil Companies to import crude for refining by TOR rather than allow them to keep importing finished products into the country.