The much-hyped shipment of crude oil from Nigeria has taken an interesting twist, with the latest report indicating that the ship dispatched for the oil supply has been chased away by the Nigerian Navy.
MV Africa, the vessel chartered by the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) to go and list the first consignment of 80,000 metric tonnes of the black gold to feed the refinery was chased away by the Nigerian Navy patrol vessels citing illegality, Daily Guide learnt. Owners of the ship, a company named Targos, dreaded having their vessel hovering on Nigerian territorial waters because of prowling pirates and were too elated to have it back in Accra albeit with no crude oil cargo.
The arrival of crude oil to feed the vegetating TOR is almost clich�, with cynics poking all manner of fun about it. This latest bad news is coming on the heels of reports of a possible increase of pump price of petroleum products, making nonsense of the government promise to reduce petroleum prices drastically. The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) acing Chief Executive, Alex Kofi Mould, is said to be hovering around the Korean Peninsula in Asia in search of cheaper oil to avoid the imminent hikes.
At the time the government authorized announcement of the expected October 7, 2009 arrival date of the first consignment of crude oil was made, an arrangement was said to have been concluded with the company called Smok, for the lifting up of 80,000 metric tonnes from Nigeria to the country.
The country waited and waited, but the consignment never came, with the media especially radio stations, tasking the management of TOR to be specific with dates.TOR Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr. Kwame Ampofo told Oman Fm that unlike the airline industry, the arrival dates of ships are difficult to predict but assured all that the consignment was en route to Ghana. He attracted the ire of some Ghanaians when he insulted those he called cynics because �they were rejoicing over the crude oil situation�. He was recorded as saying that �those rejoicing over the situation are evil-minded�.
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