Dangote Refinery :PENGASSAN strike crippled oil output by 16% – NNPCL

Nigeria’s crude oil and gas output plunged during the three-day nationwide strike by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), which was suspended on Thursday following government-brokered talks with Dangote Refinery.

The industrial action, which commenced on September 28, was triggered by the dismissal of over 800 unionised workers at the 650,000-barrel-per-day Dangote Refinery, Africa’s largest. According to a report by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), the strike slashed daily crude production by about 283,000 barrels—representing roughly 16 per cent of national output—and cut gas supply by 1.7 billion standard cubic feet per day. It also knocked out more than 1,200 megawatts of power generation.

NNPCL warned that the disruption posed a “material threat to national energy security” if it had continued. Key production and gas facilities such as Shell’s Bonga floating production unit and the Oben gas plant were affected, while the restart of Nigeria LNG’s Train 5 and 6 was delayed. Midstream operations also suffered interruptions.

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The report noted that cargo loadings at Dangote Refinery and export terminals including Akpo, Brass, and Egina were held up, raising the risk of demurrage costs. It added that at least five critical maintenance and project schedules were delayed as a result of the strike.

NNPCL said it implemented contingency measures and deployed non-union personnel to maintain essential operations during the industrial action but acknowledged “significant revenue losses” from missed liftings and gas sales. Although the union called off the strike after the government intervened, the company cautioned that underlying systemic vulnerabilities persisted.

PENGASSAN had directed its members to withdraw their services in protest over the alleged sack of 800 workers by Dangote Refinery, forcing the shutdown of offices of the NNPCL, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) in Abuja on Monday.

The action triggered nationwide fuel scarcity, with long queues reappearing at petrol stations across major cities.