Court documents reviewed by Reuters showed the Lekki-based refinery asked the Federal High Court in Lagos to void import licences issued by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to several marketers, arguing the approvals violated the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) and an earlier court order to maintain the status quo.
The suit targets import permits granted to NIPCO Plc (NGX:NIPCO), AA Rano, Matrix Energy, Shafa, Pinnacle Oil and Bono Energy, which were collectively authorised to import about 720,000 metric tonnes of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), as petrol is locally known, equivalent to roughly 960mn litres of petrol.
Under the allocations, NIPCO is expected to import 120,000 metric tonnes, AA Rano 150,000 metric tonnes, Matrix Energy 150,000 metric tonnes, Shafa 120,000 metric tonnes, Pinnacle Oil 120,000 metric tonnes and Bono Energy 60,000 metric tonnes.
An NMDPRA official quoted anonymously said the licences were approved to complement local supply and prevent shortages, maintaining the regulator’s long-standing position that imports remain necessary until domestic refining can consistently meet national demand.
The 650,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) Dangote refinery, however, argued that continued imports undermine its operations and contradict provisions of the PIA, which it says only permit imports in cases of demonstrated supply shortfall.
The case marks a renewed escalation in tensions between the refinery and downstream marketers after Dangote previously withdrew a similar lawsuit against the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), the only entity licensed to operate in the country's petroleum industry.
President Bola Tinubu last week publicly defended the government’s support for the refinery during the Africa CEO Forum in Rwanda, confirming he approved the naira-for-crude arrangement designed to improve domestic crude supply and reduce pressure on Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves.
Aliko Dangote recently disclosed that the refinery had processed crude at 661,000 bpd, exceeding its projected installed capacity, while outlining plans to expand capacity to 1.4mn bpd within the next 30 months. It currently sources about 56% of its crude feedstock from Nigeria, with the remainder imported from countries including Angola, Libya and the United States.
The Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) strongly opposed the lawsuit, warning that attempts to invalidate import licences could destabilise the downstream market and threaten billions of naira invested in storage depots, logistics and fuel distribution infrastructure.
“The import licences at the centre of this lawsuit are not administrative courtesies. They are the legal instruments through which Nigeria’s fuel supply chain functions,” DAPPMAN said in a statement, cited by local outlet The Punch.
The association argued that the PIA gives the regulator discretion to issue import licences where necessary to ensure supply security and warned against allowing “a private refinery’s commercial interests” to override the regulator’s statutory mandate.
Industry participants have increasingly warned that a complete halt to imports could create market concentration risks, while supporters of the refinery argue that continued imports discourage domestic refining investment and undermine efforts to achieve energy self-sufficiency.
Nigeria has historically relied heavily on imported petrol despite being Africa’s largest crude producer, with weak state-owned refining capacity forcing the country to spend billions of dollars annually on fuel imports before Dangote refinery began large-scale operations.
Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals plans to launch an initial public offering in mid-2026 targeting a valuation of $40bn-$50bn, with between 5% and 10% of the refinery business expected to be offered to investors.
The listing is expected to span multiple African exchanges, including the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), and would rank among the largest capital market transactions in Africa if completed.
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