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The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has filed a proposed defence in the Federal High Court in Lagos, accusing the Dangote Petroleum Refinery of attempting to monopolise the country’s energy market.
The legal clash erupted after Dangote filed a lawsuit challenging the fuel import licences granted to rival marketers and the state firm by the industry regulator.
In its court filing, the NNPCL argued that granting Dangote’s request to void these permits would stifle healthy competition and dangerously expose Africa’s largest oil producer to severe fuel shortages, volatile price spikes, and national energy insecurity.
The legal battle threatens to complicate the market outlook for Dangote’s massive 650,000-barrel-per-day plant, which is preparing for a highly anticipated initial public offering (IPO) of its refinery business.
Dangote’s initial legal challenge claims that the regulator’s continued issuance of import permits directly undermines domestic refining operations and violates the country’s Petroleum Industry Act.
The regulatory body, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, has since applied to formally join the lawsuit, intensifying the high-stakes dispute over national import policies.
In its defence, the NNPCL countered that current legislation fully permits the issuance of import licences to established international trading entities and domestic refiners alike.
Furthermore, the state firm stressed that Dangote has failed to provide verifiable, independent evidence proving the refinery can single-handedly satisfy Nigeria’s entire fuel demand or guarantee a continuous nationwide supply.
The NNPCL also firmly rejected accusations that it has actively sabotaged the new mega-refinery or intentionally withheld domestic crude, maintaining that oil allocations are strictly governed by standard logistical, security, and commercial factors.
