Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo has inaugurated the construction of a 300,000 barrel-per-day crude oil refinery in Jomoro, southwestern Ghana. The project aims to transform the West African country into the region’s petroleum hub.
The project, estimated to cost $12 billion, will include petrochemical plants and is expected to be a major boost to Ghana’s economy. The gigantic project, almost out of the playbook of Dangote Refinery in Lagos, Nigeria, is being funded and constructed by a consortium of Touchstone Capital Group Holdings, UIC Energy Ghana, China Wuhan Engineering Co., and China Construction Third Engineering Bureau Co.
Phase one of the project is expected to be completed by 2036.
The refinery, together with the petrochemical plants, is expected to supply enough refined and by-products to meet the region’s demands.
West Africa consumes around 800,000 barrels of oil daily, of which almost 90% are imported. The petroleum hub aims to change this by becoming the region’s primary refining and distribution center.
President Akufo-Addo called the project the “cornerstone of our nation’s development.”
However, his critics disagree. They point to the lack of a bankable business plan to characterize the project as fundamentally flawed.
Some residents of the proposed 20,000-acre site have also protested the plans, demanding that the project’s footprint be reduced to 5,000 acres.
Oliver Barker-Vormawor, a senior partner at a law firm representing affected farmer cooperatives, said his clients would never back down.
Despite these criticisms, the Ghanaian government remains committed to the project, seeing it as a key driver for economic growth and development of the West African nation.
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