Dangote Refinery has filed a petition with the Federal High Court in Abuja, requesting that the import licences granted to Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, Matrix Petroleum Services Limited, and A.A. Rano be revoked.

In the appeal, Dangote notified the court that the NNPCL and the aforementioned entities gained the licence to import petroleum products “despite the production of AGO and Jet-A1, which exceeds the current daily consumption of petroleum products in Nigeria by the Dangote Refinery.”

Dangote Refinery’s case is titled FHC/ABJ/CS/1324/2024, and it demands N100 billion in damages from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, or NMDPRA.

Furthermore, Dangote Refinery claimed that the NMDPRA had improperly granted import licences to companies for the importation of petroleum products into Nigeria, including AGO and jet fuel.

The defendants include NMDPRA, NNPCL, Aym Shafa Limited, A. A. Rano Limited, T. Time Petroleum Limited, 2015 Petroleum Limited, and Matrix Petroleum Services Limited.

Ogwu James Onoja, SAN, lawyer for Dangote Refinery, wants the court to rule that the NMDPRA is allegedly violating Sections 317(8) and (9) of the Petroleum Industry Act, PIA, by providing licenses for the importation of petroleum products.

Dangote Refinery stated that such licenses should only be provided to enterprises when there is a shortage of petroleum products.

The refinery requested that the court acknowledge that the NMDPRA is failing to carry out its prescribed tasks under the PIA by not helping local refineries such as Dangote Refinery.

It expressed concern that NMDPRA’s import licences awarded to other companies for the importation of AGO and Jet-A1 are substantially impeding the plaintiff’s operations, in which it has spent significant financial resources totaling billions of US dollars.

The Dangote Refinery stated that its products have been considerably neglected as a result of the alleged measures performed by NMDPRA.

According to Dangote, the NMDPRA has threatened to impose a 0.5% fee on the refinery’s wholesalers and off-takers, as well as additional 0.5% levy on wholesale transactions sent to the Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund, MDGIF, in a letter dated June 10, 2024.

It stated that the process of conduct violates statutory restrictions that govern such charges.