Staff of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) and the Bulk Oil Storage and Transport (BOST) has expressed worry over some malicious stories fabricated by a section of the media to dent the image of the two companies.
According to a press statement, the Senior and Junior Staff Union of the companies sought to set some records straight and assure the general public that the cooperation between TOR and BOST in the petroleum sector is solid and invigorating to nation building.
The Union noted that in recent times, TOR and BOST have made great strides; citing that with their cooperation, the "fuel security under Kwame Awuah Darko's leadership of BOST and TOR has improved with consistent fuel supply for the past 30 months.
Government effectively controlling the supply side of the market forces under deregulation.No more emergency cargoes by the BDCs.
"TOR's production has been boosted from 28000/bpd a day to 45000/bpd and will be doing 60000 bpd with the commercialization of the F61. Ghana saved $1 billion (as at August 2016 as reported by the Dispatch newspaper) under 12 months of deregulating fuel price which would have gone into just consumption of fuel as subsidy under fuel price deregulation, had it not been BOST and TOR."
The statement further listed some successes of both companies, stressing that "as a result of the synergy between BOST and TOR, there is about $100 million cut in importation of finished petroleum product for each month."
The Union specifically cited "The Finder newspaper" for being the face behind some of the fabrications and malicious attacks on the image of the companies.
" . . on May 10, 2016" the newspaper published a "smearing headline: 'Angry Banks Chase TOR - As no Bond had been issued to pay Debts'. At the time of publishing that story, discarding a simple ethic of journalism --allowing all parties a chance to speak -- would have informed the Publishers that The Bond was to be issued in line with road map, as agreed between TOR and the banks. Tragically, neither TOR nor the banks were contacted in scripting the story! They issued a half-hearted remorse in their subsequent edition.
"Again, on Tuesday, September 20, 2016; The Finder newspaper, now obviously on a fruitless smear agenda against BOST and TOR carried the headline: 'Toxic Diesel - BOST Tops'. This story, as published, was unfairly predicated solely on the words of the CEO of the Chamber of BDCs and also on the fact that BOST is a major downstream player."
The Union therefore wants to state for the records that "BOST will declare its end of year profit in a few days to the people of Ghana and its workers as it does every BOST year and needless to emphasize again that even just last year, we made a profit of 124 million cedis" for the nation.
"The recovery of TOR and BOST and their subsequent competitiveness on the downstream petroleum sector has left major competitor no option than to employ the services of mercenary media outfits" to paint a bleak picture about the companies and destroy public confidence in BOST and TOR; the statement concluded.
Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana
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