Dangote Refinery has withdrawn its lawsuit against the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) and other major oil marketers in the country over fuel imports.
The Africa’s largest refinery had sought to nullify fuel import licences issued to NNPC Ltd, AYM Shafa Ltd, A.A. Rano Ltd, T. Time Petroleum Ltd, 2015 Petroleum Ltd, and Matrix Petroleum Services Ltd., and payment of N100 billion ($66 million) in damages.
According to the lawsuit, the Refinery argued that the NMDPRA is violating the law by continuing to issue gasoline import permits to NNPC and other fuel traders to import adulterated petroleum products into the country.
It said in its suit, filed at Nigeria’s Federal High Court, that the law only allows imports to address production shortfalls.
However, in a notice of discontinuance filed on Monday at the Federal High Court in Abuja, Dangote’s lawyer, Ogwu Onoja, said: “Take notice that the plaintiff herein discontinues this suit against the defendants forthwith.”
Although no reason was given for the withdrawal, the case is still scheduled to be heard on September 29.
