Nigerian oil workers' union Pengassan says it has forced the shutdown of the 650,000 b/d Dangote refinery, after its members cut natural gas supply and halted crude deliveries in protest over mass layoffs.
The union says 800 refinery workers were dismissed "without due consultation or any transparent justification" shortly after joining Pengassan — a move it claims contravenes Nigerian labour law and workers' constitutional rights to freedom of association. A strike by some union members began on 28 September and expanded today as more workers joined.
The union said it issued directives on 26 September instructing members to shut the refinery's two single-point moorings for crude deliveries and halt loadings of vessels bound for the refinery from Nigerian crude terminals. It also ordered the Pengassan chair at state-owned NNPC subsidiary NGIC to cut off natural gas supply to Dangote immediately.
Pengassan president Festus Osifo told Nigerian broadcaster Channels Television that the refinery and one train of Dangote's fertilizer plant were fully shut by Sunday night, with only the second fertilizer train operating at 60pc.
The 514km Escravos-Lagos pipeline system, operated by NNPC, carries gas from the western Niger delta to Nigeria's industrial hub across Lagos and Ogun states. Dangote's 3mn t/yr, two-train granulated urea plant and refinery are supplied via a spur line off the pipeline system, including an above-ground isolation installation owned by NGIC.
Separate Pengassan directives issued on 27 September called on members in oil and gas field operations to withdraw services from 06:00 on 28 September, with office-based members joining the strike from today. A source told Argus that Pengassan picketed NNPC headquarters earlier today, preventing staff from entering the offices.
Dangote called the directives "lawless" in a statement seen by Argus, saying: "An irreparable injury to the Dangote refinery such as Pengassan has directed constitutes a national embarrassment to us all." The company insists it had laid off only a "very small number" of workers as part of an "ongoing reorganisation" to stop "repeated acts of sabotage". Nigerian law enforcement must now act to stop Pengassan's "criminal" action, it said.
Labour minister Muhammad Dingyadi urged Pengassan to "withdraw the strike declaration" and invited both parties to an emergency meeting today "for the conciliation of their dispute". Junior labour minister Nkeiruka Onyejeocha said that while the government acknowledges "the legitimate concerns of our workers", the strike must not be allowed to "derail Nigeria's energy security and economic progress", noting that the Dangote refinery "represents a cornerstone of our nation's quest for energy independence".
Upstream regulator chief executive Gbenga Komolafe said: "Parties should just refrain from what could cause disruptions in energy supply." The issues involved, he added, are such that Pengassan and Dangote can resolve them amicably through dialogue without "putting energy supply domestically in jeopardy".
But Pengassan belongs to Nigeria's largest labour coalition, the TUC, which on 28 September instructed its affiliate unions to stand ready to join the strike in solidarity. The TUC demanded that Dangote recall the laid-off workers and issue an apology.
