By Kazeem Ugbodaga
Dangote Petroleum Refinery has strongly condemned what it described as a “brazen display of lawlessness and criminality” by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), following the union’s order to its members to halt the supply of crude oil and gas to the facility.
In a statement issued on Friday, the refinery said its attention was drawn to a written directive from PENGASSAN, dated 26 September, 2025, instructing branches within major oil companies, including TotalEnergies, Seplat, Chevron, Oando, Shell Nigeria Gas and NGIC, to “cut off gas supply to NGIC effective immediately” and ensure that “all crude oil supply valves to the [Dangote] Refinery should be shut.”
The directive further mandated that “the loading operation for vessels headed there should be halted immediately,” and that branch chairmen should report on compliance without delay.
Reacting to the development, Dangote Refinery said: “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.”
The company stressed that contractual agreements for crude oil and gas supply were entered into with third-party vendors, not with the association.
“PENGASSAN has no right whatsoever to disrupt and/or interfere with the performance of those contracts,” the statement added.
Warning that the directive amounts to outright economic sabotage, the refinery said: “In plain language, PENGASSAN has directed its branches to disrupt and stop the supply of petroleum products from the Dangote Refinery to Nigerians, including aviation fuel, petrol, kerosene, diesel and cooking gas. In what circumstance would it be justified to introduce insufferable hardship into the living conditions of Nigerians? None that we can see.”
Dangote Refinery further described the order as a direct threat to the Nigerian economy.
“It should ordinarily have special protection and status and indeed qualifies as a strategic national asset. An irreparable injury to the Dangote Refinery constitutes a national embarrassment to all of us.”
The company cautioned that if the directive is implemented, it would not only disrupt petroleum supply across the country but also send dangerous signals to foreign investors.
“PENGASSAN’s directive is a disincentive to external investors who ordinarily would have been encouraged by the success of Dangote Refinery to contemplate investing in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector,” it warned.
Dangote Refinery said Nigeria remains a country governed by laws, not mob actions, saying “Our laws do not brook self-help and mob action that could introduce mayhem and chaos and easily translate into anarchy.”