Ardova Plc

Ardova Plc (formerly Forte Oil PLC) was incorporated on December 11, 1964 as British Petroleum. After 14 years in operation, the company changed its status from a private limited liability company to a public liability company. In compliance with the provisions of the Nigerian Enterprises Promotion Decree of 1977, 40% of the company’s shares were sold to Nigerians and a year later, 60% was acquired by the Federal Government of Nigeria in favour of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) from British Petroleum. In November 1979 its name was changed to African Petroleum PLC. NNPC’s stake in AP was reduced by 20% in March 1989 after the Federal Government sold the above percentage to Nigerian Citizens, increasing their stake from 40% to 60%. In the year 2000, the Federal Government under its privatization programme divested its remaining 40% to core investors and interested Nigerians.

In May 2007, the shareholding structure took another dimension as Incorporated Trustees of NNPC’s Pension Fund divested its stake to Zenon Petroleum & Gas Limited, owned by Femi Otedola, making it the majority shareholder in the company. As a result, Mr. Otedola and his affiliated entities became the core investor in the company.

Under the new management, African Petroleum embarked on a rebranding and restructuring programme which led to a name change to Forte Oil PLC in December, 2010, and a rebranding of the retail outlets spread across the across the country.

In 2013 the company purchased a controlling stake in the 414 MW Geregu Power plant under a government-led privatisation programme in the power industry under the leadership of Goodluck Jonathan. Geregu Power Plant was commissioned in 2007 with three Siemens V94.2 open cycle gas turbine power generation units, namely GT11, GT12, and GT13, with an initial combined installed capacity of 414MW. A major overhaul of the plant commenced in 2015 and was completed in 2016, increasing the combined capacity to 435MW.

In 2015 they signed an $83 million contract with Siemens to upgrade the 414 MW plant, the work is due to be completed in 2016[1]

As at June 20, 2019, approx. 75% controlling shares of Forte oil were purchased by Prudent Energy and Services owned by Abdulwasiu Sowami through Sowami's investment company Ignite Investments and Commodities Limited, thus effectively giving Sowami controlling shares of Forte oil excluding the Geregu Power plant.

At an Extra-ordinary General Meeting (EGM) held in Lagos on December 18, 2019, shareholders of Forte Oil PLC authorised the board of directors to change the company's name to Ardova Plc. The new name, along with a new logo and tagline was officially launched to the public on February 19, 2020.

Ardova Plc (formerly Forte Oil PLC) operates a network of about 450 retail outlets spread across the Country with major fuel storage installations at both Apapa (Lagos State) and Onne (Rivers State), an aviation joint users hydrant in Lagos, and joint aviation depots in Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano, serving the aviation industry.

With presence in the 36 states of Nigeria and Abuja and a spread of retail outlets in Ghana, the Company markets premium motor spirit (PMS), automotive motor oil (Diesel), dual purpose kero (DPK), fuel oils and Jet A-1 fuel amongst others. It also manufactures and distributes a range of lubricants, some of which include Super V, Visco 2000 etc. at its lubricating oil blending plant at Apapa, Lagos Nigeria.

The Company also provides well production chemicals and drilling fluids to Nigeria’s petroleum upstream operators through its upstream services subsidiary, Forte Upstream Services.

Although Forte Oil operates majorly in the downstream sector of the Oil and Gas industry, it has diversified its business operations through the following subsidiaries:

• AP Oil & Gas Ghana limited (APOG) : [AP Oil and Gas Ghana Limited] (APOG) commenced operations in July 2008 with a single outlet and a few industrial customers in a bid to build a transnational oil company. Today APOG has its head office within the Accra Business District and a network of retail outletts.

As of June 20, 2019, Forte Oil's directors include:

• Abdulwasiu Sowami - Chairman
• Olumide Adeosun - Chief Executive Officer
• Moshood Olajide - Chief Financial Officer
• Olusola Adeeyo - Non-Executive Director
• Durosinmi-Etti Aniola - Non-Executive Director
• Aminu Umar - Non-Executive Director

• Official website
• Petroleumafrica.com
• Bloomberg.com
• Insideview.com
• Myfinancialintelligence.com
• Broadstreetlagos.com
• Nigerianbest.forum.com
• Thisdaylive.com