KEY POINTS
- PENGASSAN orders immediate halt of crude and gas supply to Dangote Refinery after 800 workers were laid off.
- Dangote says the layoffs were part of a restructuring to protect the facility from sabotage and safety risks.
- The standoff threatens the refinery’s early operations and could rattle Nigeria’s fuel supply outlook.
Nigeria’s most powerful oil and gas union, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, has directed its members across the country’s top energy firms to halt crude and gas supply to the $20 billion Dangote Petroleum Refinery, escalating a showdown over the fate of 800 workers laid off last week.
The directive, issued in a memo by PENGASSAN General Secretary Lumumba Okugbawa, ordered branch chairmen in companies including TotalEnergies, Chevron, Shell Nigeria Gas, Oando, Seplat, and Renaissance to “shut valves and suspend all loading operations” to the facility.
The union instructed the Independent National Gas Company (INGC) chairman to enforce an immediate cutoff of gas supply.
Dangote Faces Union Backlash Amid Safety, Jobs Dispute
The dispute comes just days after Dangote Refinery confirmed the dismissal of 800 staff, saying the move was part of a restructuring drive to shield Africa’s largest oil-processing plant from repeated sabotage attempts that had raised safety concerns and slowed operations.
PENGASSAN, however, views the sackings as a breach of labor rights and has moved quickly to flex its industrial muscle.
The refinery, which only recently began ramping up crude imports and refining trials, is seen by the government as critical to cutting Nigeria’s long-standing reliance on imported fuel.
Any disruption to its operations risks derailing supply expectations and unsettling the downstream market at a time when the nation is battling inflation and foreign exchange pressure.
PENGASSAN’s strike threat adds to broader tensions between labor and Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, where workers’ unions have repeatedly resisted divestments, layoffs, and regulatory changes.
With the Dangote facility now caught in the crosshairs, analysts warn that the clash could test both the government’s labor mediation capacity and the refinery’s operational stability in its crucial early phase.
