Forte Oil says it has plans to sell some of its Nigerian assets and shut down its operations in Ghana.
In a notice to investors on Wednesday, the company, which is owned by Femi Otedola, said it will end its upstream and power services in Nigeria to focus on its core fuel distribution operations.
The company is also in talks with a major refinery to begin local refining of petroleum products.
Reuters reports that the move comes as a surprise about-turn for a company whose chief executive Akin Akinfemiwa told investors in Lagos in August that he wanted to aggressively pursue M&A opportunities along the energy value chain and acquire marginal oilfields to boost its upstream business.
A scarcity of foreign exchange due to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s policy to restrict forex for importation had affected the company’s ability to import petroleum products in 2017.
By the end of 2017, Forte Oil’s shares depreciated by 49 percent on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
The policy was one of the CBN’s moves to protect the economy after the 2016 recession.
In its 2018 first quarter results, the company announced a profit after tax of N2.96 billion.
