Forte Oil to seal refinery deal for capacity building

Nigeria’s Forte Oil has stated that it was in talks with a major refinery to form a strategic partnership for local refining of petroleum products in Africa’s top oil exporter, its chief executive has said.

Nigeria has been pushing to refurbish its decrepit refineries, as the country is still mainly dependent on exporting crude oil for imports of refined products.

It has also been seeking new investments to reduce reliance on imported oil products that consume a large portion of the OPEC member’s scarce foreign currency reserves, especially with oil prices low.

CEO Akin Akinfemiwa said Forte Oil, majority owned by billionaire Femi Otedola, was exploring partnerships and joint ventures for local refining of petroleum products.

Nigeria’s oil minister has said its existing, ageing refineries have a daily domestic refining capacity of 6 million litres, while the daily consumption stands at 35 million.

“We are aggressively pursuing M&A opportunities along the energy value chain,” Akinfemiwa told investors in Lagos.