Tema Lube Oil Company, (TLO) an auto lubricant blending plant, has presented a cheque for 369,000 dollars to the government to pay off a loan it borrowed five years ago. The company, which was divested from state control in 1990, borrowed 18.7 million dollars from the Italian government through the Government of Ghana to start. The loan, which attracted 10 per cent interest, was to be paid in 22 bi-annual installments beginning 1996 to 2006. TLO, however, commenced repayment in December, 1993, with an initial payment of 3.7 million dollars. The payment trend had since continued with a monthly instalment of 400,000 dollars. The Minister of Mines and Energy, Mr. Fred Ohene Kena in the presence of Mr. Moses Asaga, a Deputy Minister of Finance received the cheque in Accra. "We are very proud of the company today. This landmark achievement in repaying its loan is a vindication of the government’s divestiture policy", Mr. Ohene-Kena said. He said the government took "a very good investment decision" to enter into a loan agreement with the company for the ownership and operation of the plant. "In setting up the plant, the government was influenced by the desire to improve and ensure constant supply of lubricants to the domestic market at competitive prices".

Mr. Ohene-Kena said the setting up of the company and its efficient operation saved the country about 5.6 million dollars that would have been used to import finished products every year. The company, which has a nominal capacity of 25,400 metric tonnes per year, sells over 36 billion cedis of lubricants in a year. The Board Chairman, Lt. Col Ibrahim Abdulai, said the company's total production of different blends of oil rose from 23.9 million litres in 1993 to 29.1 million litres by December 1997. To meet future increases in demand; plant production can be increased up to more than 30,000 metric tonnes through a shift- system with staff strength of 76. With the loan fully paid, the Board Chairman said; "it is now time to seek consolidation and growth for the company, which has reached a point of saturation in the domestic market". The company, which is owned, mainly by the oil marketing companies operating in Ghana, has the ECOWAS market as its immediate target.