Mr Kwame Osei-Prempeh, GOIL Group CEO
Ghana Oil Company Limited (GOIL) has decided to diversify its services by venturing into bitumen production. This is to support the government to achieve its aim of improving the country’s road infrastructure.
The company is currently building bitumen emulsion and polymer modified bitumen (PMB) plants with 6,000 metric tonnes of base bitumen and a production capacity of 240 metric tonnes per day for each.
The Group CEO of GOIL, Kwame Osei-Prempeh, in an interview disclosed that access to bitumen had been a problem in Ghana for many years. He said his outfit has, therefore, decided to venture into bitumen and PMB (asphalt) production to address the challenge.
He is confident the move will help the government to cut down on the cost of road construction in the country.
He said the $35 million bitumen plant is a joint venture between GOIL and Societe Multinationale de Bitumes (SMB).
GOIL has 60 per cent stake in the depot while SMB has 40 per cent stake in the first part of the plant. The second part, which is transforming the bitumen into PMB (asphalt), is solely owned by GOIL.
Mr Osei-Prempeh noted that the advantage of the move is to ensure that the government constructs better roads.
“GOIL is going to add value to the bitumen to ensure that government agencies get quality bitumen for our roads. Whatever we are doing is to support government for the betterment of the country,” he added.
Market
Touching on its targeted market, Mr Osei-Prempeh noted that when the plant becomes operational in September, road contractors traveling to Takoradi to buy raw bitumen from Total would become a thing of the past.
“The contractors who have to import from outside are now going to have what they need locally. We are hopeful we can meet the market,” he said.
The Group CEO of GOIL said his outfit is looking forward to a period where Ghana will produce raw bitumen and stop importing from SMB.
“We’re looking at exporting the material in the future. We almost began exporting our products last year, but the COVID stopped us so if we do not get the local market, we will export,” Mr Osei-Prempeh disclosed.
On pricing, he disclosed the price of GOIL’s bitumen would be the same as the market price, adding, however, that “if we are adding value, it will be sold at premium price.”
Training
Mr Osei-Prempeh said experts from US are in Ghana to train staff of the company.
This is to ensure that when the facility becomes fully operational, staff of GOIL will be up to the task
“We don’t have to always rely on foreigners on what we need. So we decided that we have to train our own engineers so we can employ Ghanaians to work for us. If we train our own people, they get the expertise and it becomes easier for us to expand,” Mr Osei-Prempeh said.
About The Author
