Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) has posted its first profit in a decade, 1.24 billion cedis before tax in 2025, the state enterprises authority said on Monday.
The State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA) hailed a “historic financial turnaround” at one of Ghana’s most strategic but long troubled state firms. The result came as TOR submitted six years of overdue audited accounts covering 2019 to 2025, restoring reporting that had lapsed since 2018.
Much of the profit rested on a foreign exchange gain of about 1.3 billion cedis, which may not recur, alongside a 155 million cedi rise in income from associates. The refinery also cut trade and other payables from 7.1 billion cedis to 5 billion and refined about 600,000 barrels of crude after completing maintenance works.
The milestone follows years of losses, mounting debt and idle plants. SIGA said TOR piled up roughly 10 billion cedis in losses between 2017 and 2024 and owes the tax authority, the state pension trust, the power utility and the water company, with total debt put at 517 million dollars by mid 2025.
Management under Managing Director Edmond Kombat has pushed debt restructuring, cost control, receivables recovery and investment in core units, including the crude distillation and catalytic cracking plants. TOR resumed refining on 19 December after maintenance restored lost capacity.
SIGA cautioned that major challenges remain, among them tight liquidity, retained losses and the need to repair the balance sheet. One profitable year, it noted, cannot undo a decade of strain, and the real test is whether TOR can earn steadily from refining itself.
Awesome 👌 News update.