The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has directed its members to cut off gas supply to the $20 billion Dangote Petroleum Refinery, escalating a dispute over the disengagement of unionised workers.
In a letter dated September 26, 2025 and signed by Lumumba Ighotemu Okugbawa, its General Secretary, the union accused the refinery’s management of violating workers’ constitutional right to freedom of association by terminating the employment of staff who had joined PENGASSAN.
PENGASSAN said Dangote Refinery had not only disengaged its members but also embarked on “a mission of misinformation and propaganda to justify this illegitimacy rather than engaging meaningfully with us to right the wrong.”
As a result, the union instructed its branches in gas-producing and supplying companies, including TotalEnergies, Seplat, Renaissance, Chevron, Oando, Shell Nigeria Gas, and the Nigeria Gas Infrastructure Company (NGIC), to immediately halt the supply of gas to the refinery.
All crude oil supply valves to the Refinery should be shut. The loading operation for vessel headed there should be halted immediately,” the directive read. It specifically mandated NGIC to ensure the cut-off was enforced without delay.
The union asked all branch chairmen to promptly report on the progress of the directive, reiterating its long-standing slogan: “Injury to one, injury to all.”
The development threatens to disrupt the operations of Africa’s largest oil refinery, which has been touted as a game-changer for Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector.
Commissioned in 2023 with a capacity to process 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day, the facility is expected to reduce Nigeria’s heavy dependence on fuel imports and stabilise domestic supply.
Labour disputes at the refinery, however, have raised concerns about industrial relations and compliance with labour laws.
The latest action by PENGASSAN, if sustained, could create fresh hurdles for the plant’s operations and complicate government efforts to achieve energy security.
Neither Dangote Refinery management nor government officials had issued a statement on the union’s directive as of the time of filing this report.
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