Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) are at odds over the former’s N100 billion import license lawsuit and allegations of monopoly in the oil and gas sector.
This is according to counter-affidavits and associated court documents exclusively seen and reviewed by newsmen amid the refinery’s suit.
The pending suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1324/2024, seeks to void import licenses issued to some Nigerian oil companies by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
These companies include the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Matrix Petroleum Services Limited, A.A. Rano Limited, and four others.
The refinery argues that these products are already being produced domestically without shortfalls.
Meanwhile, NNPCL’s counsel, Ademola Abimbola, SAN, filed a preliminary objection, arguing that the plaintiff erroneously sued “Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation,” a non-existent entity, instead of the correctly registered “Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.”
Abimbola also argued that until NMDPRA decides to apply the Backward Integration Policy in the downstream petroleum sector, it is not under any obligation to restrict the issuance of petroleum product import licenses solely to cover shortfalls in local refinery production.
