Dangote refinery halts petrol sales in naira, as PENGASSAN orders gas supply cutoff

The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has suspended petrol sales in naira, a move that has unsettled marketers and triggered fears of fresh volatility in fuel pricing and foreign exchange markets. 

The development coincides with mounting labour tensions after the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) ordered an immediate halt to gas and crude oil supplies to the facility.

In an email to customers on Friday evening, the refinery said the suspension of naira sales would take effect from Sunday, September 28, 2025, citing the exhaustion of its crude-for-naira allocation. The notice, signed by the Group Commercial Operations of Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals and titled “Suspension of DPRP PMS Naira Sales – Effective 28th September 2025,” directed customers with ongoing naira-based transactions to request refunds.

“Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals has been selling petroleum products in excess of our naira-crude allocations and, consequently, we are unable to sustain PMS sales in naira going forward,” the company stated.

This is not the first time the refinery has suspended local currency transactions. In March 2025, it briefly halted naira sales, citing inadequate allocations under the crude-for-naira programme. That move fuelled concerns over the dollarisation of fuel sales and pushed pump prices close to N1,000 per litre.

Analysts warn that the latest suspension could again destabilise the downstream sector. Chief Executive of Petroleumprice.ng, Jeremiah Olatide, told Punch that petrol could climb above N900 per litre if transactions shift predominantly to dollars.

The naira sales halt comes amid escalating industrial unrest. PENGASSAN, in a strongly worded letter dated September 26 and signed by its General Secretary, Comrade Lumumba Ighotemu Okugbawa, directed members to cut off gas supply through the Nigerian Gas Infrastructure Company Limited (NGIC), shut all crude oil valves to the refinery, and suspend vessel loading operations.

The union accused Dangote of anti-labour practices following the alleged termination of more than 800 Nigerian workers who had sought to unionise.

“Management of Dangote Petroleum Refinery has disengaged our members in reaction to the exercise of their constitutional right to be unionised,” the letter read. “They have gone further on a mission of misinformation and propaganda to justify this illegitimacy rather than engaging meaningfully with us to right the wrong.”

Union leaders vowed to resist what they described as an “unjust and insensitive corporate decision,” threatening broader solidarity actions if their demands are not met.