Dangote Refinery Withdraws Lawsuit Against NNPC, Fuel Importers

Dangote Refinery has withdrawn its lawsuit against Nigeria’s petroleum regulator, NNPC Ltd, and other fuel importers over the issuance of import licenses, citing no reason. The court may still meet in September to address legal costs.

Dangote Refinery has formally withdrawn its lawsuit against Nigeria’s petroleum regulatory agency and several fuel importers, including the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd).

The lawsuit, originally filed by Africa’s largest refinery, challenged the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) over its decision to issue fuel import licenses to NNPC Ltd and five other companies: AYM Shafa Ltd, A.A. Rano Ltd, T. Time Petroleum Ltd, 2015 Petroleum Ltd, and Matrix Petroleum Services Ltd, according to a report by Reuters.

In its filing at the Federal High Court, Dangote Refinery argued that NMDPRA was violating the law by continuing to grant gasoline import permits to NNPC and other fuel marketers. The company maintained that importation is only permitted to bridge shortfalls in domestic production — a threshold it insisted no longer applied since its refinery had become operational.

As part of its case, Dangote sought damages amounting to 100 billion naira (approximately $66 million), claiming that licenses were still being granted for products such as Automotive Gas Oil (diesel) and Jet A1 (aviation fuel), despite the availability of local refining capacity.

NNPC Ltd contested the suit in a legal filing and called for its dismissal. Additionally, three of the named marketers — AYM Shafa Limited, A.A. Rano Limited, and Matrix Petroleum Services Limited — represented by Senior Advocate of Nigeria Ahmed Raji, also urged the court to throw out the case.

In their joint counter-affidavit, the marketers contended that granting Dangote Refinery’s requests would be detrimental to the broader Nigerian oil sector.

Nevertheless, in March, the Federal High Court in Abuja ruled in favour of Dangote Refinery, allowing the suit to proceed.

On Monday, however, the company filed a notice of discontinuance at the Federal High Court in Abuja through its lawyer, Ogwu Onoja. The document stated: “Take notice that the plaintiff herein discontinues this suit against the defendants forthwith.” The filing did not provide any explanation for the decision to withdraw.

Despite the discontinuance, the court is still expected to convene on September 29, at which time the defendants may either seek to recover their legal costs or request that the matter be struck out with no penalty.