adsNigeria’s state oil firm NNPC has accused Dangote Petroleum Refinery of seeking to restrict competition and expose the country’s fuel market to monopoly control by challenging import licences issued to rival marketers, according to court documents seen by Reuters.
In a proposed defence filed at the Federal High Court in Lagos, NNPC said granting Dangote’s request to void or restrict import permits would expose Africa’s largest oil producer to supply disruptions, price instability and risks to national energy security.
The regulator, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, has applied to join the case, widening a legal battle over import policy and Dangote refinery’s market position.
The dispute comes months before Dangote’s planned September IPO of its refinery business, adding uncertainty over market rules, import competition and the revenue outlook investors may assign to the 650,000-barrel-per-day plant.
Dangote Petroleum Refinery filed the lawsuit in April against Nigeria’s attorney general, challenging fuel import licences issued or renewed by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, or NMDPRA, to marketers and NNPC. Dangote argues the licences undermine local refining and violate provisions of Nigeria’s adsads
