A Texas-based oil and gas-focused company, Cox Oil, has picked the Takoradi Port as the location to build its $600 million state-of-the-art oil refinery and its associated infrastructure to serve the sub region.
Director General for the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA,) Richard Anamoo, disclosed the refinery will be built on approximately 100 acres of reclaimed land at the harbour in an area designated specifically as a Maritime Industrial Enclave.
He stressed that as part of the ongoing Takoradi Port Expansion Project, GPHA will reclaim more than 1, 200 hectares of land and deepen the harbour basin to minus 20 meters to enable post PANAMAX ships to call at the port. Other ports infrastructure and access roads to and from the port would also be improved to ease traffic congestion.
Mr. Anamoo asserted that the project will create massive employment opportunities for the people of the Western Region and the general adding that it will also attract other business to move to the Sekondi /Takoradi Maritime Industrial Enclave
According to the project sponsors and investors, the construction of the refinery is slated to kick off in the first quarter of 2015.
Cox Oil is projecting that the Takoradi Oil Refinery Company Limited will start operations within 2 years after the project commencement date.
Takoradi Oil Refinery Company Limited is expected to deliver about 65,000 barrels of oil per day, both for export and the domestic market.
The ongoing Takoradi Port Expansion Project has already started attracting investments into the Port’s Oil & Gas enclave as the Ghana Ports & Harbours Authority (GPHA) works to position the Takoradi Port as a major maritime services support hub along the west coast of Africa.
According to the investors, Takoradi port was chosen as the site of their new refinery for obvious strategic reasons, chief among them being the existing infrastructure at the port and ongoing expansion program that GPHA has embarked upon to improve the facility.
Construction works to extend the existing 1.087km of breakwater at the Takoradi Port, a crucial part of an ongoing expansion project, has been completed.
On completion, the project will pave the way for the commencement of work on dredging the access channel to a water depth of about 16 meters as well as the construction of a bulk terminal to serve the manganese, bauxite, cement, clinker and gypsum ships that call at the port.
Source: Ghana/todaygh.com/BUSINESS DESK
