The Dangote Group has dismissed a directive by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) ordering its members to halt crude oil and gas supply to the refinery, describing the move as unlawful, reckless, and a threat to the national economy.
The company, in a statement on Saturday, said the order issued on September 26, 2025, to branches in TotalEnergies, Seplat, Chevron, Oando, Shell Nigeria Gas, and the Nigerian Gas Infrastructure Company (NGIC), amounted to economic sabotage. It warned that enforcing the directive would disrupt the production and distribution of petrol, diesel, aviation fuel, kerosene, and cooking gas, imposing hardship on households and businesses across the country.
Dangote Refinery maintained that PENGASSAN lacked the legal authority to interfere in contracts signed directly with third-party suppliers. It stressed that Nigerian law does not permit self-help measures or union directives capable of throwing the oil and gas sector into chaos.
The statement read, “Our attention has been drawn to the written “directive” issued by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (“PENGASSAN” or “Association”) on 26 September 2025 to its “TotalEnergies E&P Branch,” “Seplat Producing Nigeria Unlimited Branch,” “Renaissance Branch,” “Chevron Branch,” “Oando Branch,” “Shell Nigeria Gas, SNG Branch” and “NGIC Branch.”
It added, “This is a brazen, albeit shocking, display of lawlessness and criminality by PENGASSAN. Absolutely no law gives PENGASSAN the right to direct its branches to “cut off” gas and crude oil supplies to Dangote Refinery or at all.
“There is also no law in our statute books that would support or enable the PENGASSAN branches having to “cut off” gas and crude oil supplies to Dangote Refinery or at all. Besides, it constitutes a criminal conduct for PENGASSAN or its members to disrupt and/or interfere howsoever in the contract between Dangote Refinery and its various vendors for the supply of gas and crude oil to the Refinery.”
Dangote warned that PENGASSAN’s directive undermines the rule of law, threatens investment, and could cripple a strategic national asset vital to government revenue. It accused the union of contradicting its own pledge to seek legal redress by issuing “illicit” orders that endanger national stability.
The company urged government intervention, stressing the refinery must not be held hostage and warning Nigerians of the hardship that fuel supply disruptions would cause.
Backstory
- The union accused Dangote Refinery of unlawfully disengaging workers who sought to unionize, claiming management resorted to propaganda instead of addressing workers’ grievances.
- The association argued the move was necessary to protect its members’ rights and instructed branch chairmen to ensure immediate enforcement and report on progress.
Dangote Refinery, however, maintained that PENGASSAN’s directive had no basis in law and called on Nigerians to resist what it described as a lawless and harmful order.
