By Dipo Olowookere
Chief Executive Officer of Forte Oil Plc, Mr Akin Akinfemiwa, has disclosed that the firm was considering forming a partnership deal for the refining of petroleum products in Nigeria.
According to Reuters, Mr Akinfemiwa said discussions have already commenced with a major refinery.
“We are aggressively pursuing M&A opportunities along the energy value chain,” the company’s chief informed investors in Lagos last Friday.
Mr Femi Otedola, who has majority shares in Forte Oil, already has his billionaire friend and Africa’s richest man, Mr Aliko Dangote, building a petroleum refinery in Lagos, and it is expected to be completed before the end of 2019. The refinery has the capacity to produce 650,000 barrels a day.
In May this year, rival energy group, Oando Plc, announced that it was in talks to work with Italian energy company, Eni, to rehabilitate the Port Harcourt refinery, one of the West African nation’s four refineries.
Minister of State for Petroleum, Mr Ibe Kachikwu, has set 2019 target for an end to the importation of petrol into the country.
Few days ago, he was in Lagos to inspect works at Mr Dangote’s refinery, where he maintained that the 2019 deadline was sacrosanct.
Modupe Gbadeyanka 
Adedapo Adesanya