The industrial dispute between the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) escalated dramatically on Saturday, September 27 as the union ordered key members to cut off crude oil and gas supplies to the $20 billion facility.
The directive, which took effect immediately, marks an aggressive escalation in the union’s standoff with the refinery’s management.
In a letter dated September 26 and signed by its General Secretary, Lumumba Okugbawa, PENGASSAN accused the refinery’s management of anti-labour practices and unlawfully sacking its members in retaliation for exercising their constitutional right to join the union.
PENGASSAN explicitly ordered its branch chairmen at major upstream and midstream oil companies—including TotalEnergies, Chevron, Seplat, Shell Nigeria Gas, Oando, Renaissance, and the Nigerian Gas Infrastructure Company (NGIC)—to:
1.Immediately cut off all gas supply to the refinery via NGIC.
2.Shut all crude oil supply valves to the facility.
3.Halt all vessel loading operations headed for the refinery.
The union ended the directive with a firm statement of solidarity: “Injury to one! Injury to all!”
The refinery’s management has vehemently rejected the claims of a mass lay-off.
In a statement on Friday, the refinery clarified that only a small number of workers were affected by what it called a “reorganisation” aimed at preventing acts of sabotage within the facility.
Dangote maintained that over 3,000 Nigerians remain in employment, rejecting claims of a mass lay-off and said the restructuring was necessary due to recurring acts of sabotage that posed serious risks to human lives and operations.
The union, however, described the company’s action as “illegitimate” and accused the refinery of spreading misinformation instead of engaging in dialogue.