IN SHORT: Nigeria’s state oil company NNPC filed a counter-affidavit at the Federal High Court in Lagos on May 27, arguing that petrol from the Dangote Petroleum Refinery is sold at significantly high and fluctuating prices and that continued fuel imports are essential to prevent monopoly control and protect Nigerian consumers. The filing directly opposes Dangote’s lawsuit seeking to void import licences issued to six petroleum marketers by the NMDPRA. The case arrives weeks before Dangote’s targeted September IPO at a $50 billion valuation, introducing a state-sponsored legal threat to the refinery’s core commercial thesis.
NNPC has escalated its long-running conflict with the Dangote Petroleum Refinery into open court, telling a Lagos judge that Dangote’s fuel is too expensive and that Nigeria must continue importing petrol from international markets to protect consumers and prevent a single private company from controlling the country’s fuel supply. The counter-affidavit, filed in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/857/2026, represents the Nigerian state’s most direct formal legal challenge yet to Aliko Dangote’s ambition to dominate Nigeria’s downstream petroleum market through the $20 billion Lekki refinery.
- The dispute stems from Dangote Petroleum Refinery’s originating summons filed on May 15, in which the refinery asked the Federal High Court in Lagos to void import licences recently issued by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority to six petroleum marketers: NIPCO, AA Rano, Matrix Energy, Shafa, Pinnacle Oil and Bono Energy. The refinery argues the licences violate existing regulations and undermine its $20 billion investment.
- NNPC’s counter-affidavit makes three core arguments. First, Dangote’s petrol prices are significantly high and fluctuating, driven by commercial rather than cost-reflective considerations. Second, the refinery has not provided credible, independent or verifiable evidence that it can satisfy Nigeria’s entire fuel demand alone. Third, restricting imports would risk fuel shortages, price volatility and broader threats to Nigeria’s energy security.
- NNPC also asked the court to dismiss the entire suit as incompetent, premature, disclosing no cause of action, and constituting an abuse of court process. Petroleum product retail owners associations separately filed in support of NNPC, arguing competition from imports is necessary to prevent price exploitation.
- In Q1 2026, the Dangote refinery supplied approximately 76.7% of Nigeria’s petrol, with imports at 965 million litres compared to the refinery’s 3.18 billion litres. Dangote says it is running at 99.1% of 650,000 bpd capacity and has repeatedly accused NNPC of sabotaging its operations through inadequate crude supply and deliberate support for competing imports.
- This is the second time Dangote has filed this type of lawsuit. The first, filed in 2024 against NNPC and the NMDPRA, was withdrawn in July 2025 following government mediation. The refinery has now refiled, citing renewed NMDPRA licence issuances in 2026.
- The court hearing is expected in the coming weeks. The case is a direct threat to the September IPO’s commercial narrative. Foreign investors evaluating the offering must now weigh a state counterparty arguing in open court that Dangote’s product is uncompetitively priced, weakening the refinery’s pricing power story at exactly the moment the prospectus requires investor confidence. Africaspoint covered the IPO timeline confirmation: Dangote sets September for $50bn IPO.
The court filing should be read in the context of a broader structural tension that has been building since the refinery opened in 2024. Dangote has invested $20 billion and produced more than 3 billion litres of petrol in Q1 alone. NNPC is a customer, a competitor and a crude supplier simultaneously, with conflicting commercial interests in every dimension of that relationship. The state has never formally resolved how it wants to position itself relative to the refinery: supportive partner or competitive counterparty. The court filing answers that question. For now, NNPC is a counterparty.
The Bigger Picture: The Dangote-NNPC court battle is about market structure, not just pricing. Dangote’s argument is that a refinery producing 76% of Nigeria’s petrol supply is being undercut by state-facilitated imports that no longer serve any supply security purpose. NNPC’s argument is that one company should never control 100% of any market, regardless of the product’s origin. Both arguments have commercial merit. The court will resolve the legal question. The commercial question, whether the Dangote refinery can convert operational dominance into pricing power, is what September’s IPO investors are ultimately being asked to bet on.
Source: Billionaires.Africa, May 27 2026 / The Punch, May 27 2026
