You go to whoever has got the barrels. It's less about pricing, it's about volume.
When the Strait of Hormuz closed in late February, Britain lost access to the Gulf fuel that has long underpinned its aviation sector, and the search for alternatives led to an unlikely dependency: a Lagos refinery owned by Africa's wealthiest man, now shipping jet fuel to keep British summer holidays aloft. The Dangote facility is a marvel of new industrial capacity, but it carries a shadow — allegations that hundreds of workers were dismissed for seeking union membership, a charge the company disputes while acknowledging a significant reorganisation. In the calculus of energy security, governments have always made uncomfortable bargains, and this one asks whether the right to fly rests, in part, on the suppression of the right to organise.
- Britain's four remaining domestic refineries cannot produce enough jet fuel to sustain commercial aviation through summer, leaving the government exposed to a supply crisis it did not anticipate.
- The Strait of Hormuz closure in February severed the UK's traditional Gulf supply lines, forcing Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander to publicly acknowledge the need for emergency imports from the US and West Africa.
- The Dangote refinery in Lagos has stepped into the breach, shipping 130,000 tonnes of jet fuel to the UK in March alone — but it is a facility where over 800 workers were allegedly fired last autumn for joining a union.
- Dangote Industries denies the dismissals, claiming workers were redeployed within the group to other divisions with no loss of pay, and that unions are now praising the refinery's contribution to Nigeria's own fuel stability.
- Market analysts are blunt: when volume is the priority, buyers go to whoever has the barrels — and Britain, for now, has chosen to depend on a single refinery whose labour record remains deeply contested.
Britain's summer aviation season now rests on a refinery in Lagos — and the government knows it. When the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed on February 28th, cutting off Gulf oil that normally supplies a fifth of the world's fuel, the UK lost its traditional jet fuel sources overnight. The four refineries still operating on British soil — at Fawley, Humber, Pembroke, and Stanlow — cannot fill the gap. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander acknowledged the shortfall plainly: imports from the United States and West Africa would be necessary to keep planes in the air.
The Dangote refinery in Lagos, owned by billionaire Aliko Dangote, has become the centrepiece of that strategy. Though it only began producing aviation fuel in January 2024, it shipped 130,000 tonnes to the UK in March alone, with another 60,000 tonnes in transit. For the British government, it is a lifeline. For Nigerian workers, the story is more complicated.
Last autumn, the refinery was accused of dismissing more than 800 workers after they joined the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria. The Nigerian Labour Congress alleged the facility had a consistent record of union-busting and that some dismissed workers had been replaced by foreign nationals. Unions ordered a halt to crude deliveries in protest. Dangote Industries denied the dismissals, saying a limited reorganisation had targeted workers disrupting operations, and that thousands of Nigerians remained employed. After government intervention confirmed workers' right to unionise, the company agreed to redeploy affected staff to other divisions — salt, sugar, cement — with no loss of pay.
The bind is clear. Britain needs the fuel. The refinery is running at full capacity. As one market analyst put it, when volume is scarce, you go to whoever has the barrels. The government maintains that airlines are not currently facing shortages and that most holidaymakers will have a normal summer. What it cannot yet answer is what happens if the Strait stays closed, or if this single point of supply becomes unreliable — and what it means to have built that dependency on a facility whose treatment of workers remains, by many accounts, unresolved.
Britain's summer holiday season now depends on a refinery in Lagos that fired workers for trying to join a union. That's the uncomfortable arithmetic facing the government as it scrambles to keep planes in the air.
When the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed on February 28th, cutting off the flow of Gulf oil that normally supplies a fifth of the world's fuel, the UK lost access to its traditional sources of jet fuel. Four refineries remain on British soil—at Fawley, Humber, Pembroke, and Stanlow—but their combined output won't be enough to keep commercial aviation running through summer. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander acknowledged this plainly over the weekend: the country would need to import fuel from the United States and West Africa, or risk grounding planes.
The Dangote refinery in Lagos, owned by Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote, has become central to that strategy. In March alone, the facility shipped 130,000 tonnes of jet fuel to the UK. Another 60,000 tonnes was in transit. The refinery only began producing aviation fuel in January 2024, but it is now operating at maximum capacity to meet global demand. For the government, it is a lifeline. For the workers there, it has been something else.
Last autumn, the refinery faced accusations that it had dismissed more than 800 Nigerian workers after they joined the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, a union. The allegations suggested that some of those workers were then replaced with foreign nationals, primarily from India. The Nigerian Labour Congress described the facility as having a "consistent record of union-busting, exploitative labour practices," and claimed wages there were among the lowest in the country's oil and gas sector. The unions ordered an immediate halt to crude deliveries to the refinery in protest.
Dangote Industries denied the dismissals. The company said a limited reorganisation had targeted workers who were disrupting operations, and that more than 3,000 Nigerians remained employed. It maintained that it did not block union participation. When the Nigerian government intervened and confirmed workers' right to join unions, the company agreed to redeploy the affected staff to other divisions within the Dangote Group—to salt, sugar, and cement operations—with no loss of pay. An internal memo sent last week confirmed the recall was underway. The company's spokesperson pushed back hard against the union characterisation, calling it "buzzwords" designed to "mask ineptitude," and noting that unions themselves were now praising the refinery's role in solving Nigeria's fuel shortage.
But the timing creates a bind. Britain needs Dangote's fuel. The refinery is producing at full tilt. Matt Stanley, head of market engagement at Kpler, a market data company, said plainly: "You go to whoever has got the barrels. It's less about pricing, it's about volume, and they just want to keep the wheels turning." The government insists UK airlines are not currently facing shortages—aviation fuel is typically bought months in advance, and airports maintain reserves. Alexander expressed confidence that most holidaymakers would have a normal summer.
What remains unclear is whether that confidence can hold if the Strait of Hormuz stays closed, or if Dangote's supply becomes unreliable. The refinery is now a single point of failure in Britain's energy security. It is also a facility where, by the account of multiple unions and labour organisations, workers have paid a price for asserting their rights. The government has chosen to depend on it anyway.
Citações Notáveis
You go to whoever has got the barrels. It's less about pricing, it's about volume, and they just want to keep the wheels turning.— Matt Stanley, head of market engagement at Kpler
We have free association and we respect it. We don't have problems with unions.— Dangote Industries spokesperson
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does the UK need Nigerian fuel at all? Don't we have refineries here?
We do, but only four now, down from more. They can't produce enough jet fuel on their own. The Strait of Hormuz closure cut off the Gulf, which normally supplies a fifth of global oil. So the government is scrambling for alternatives.
And Dangote is the answer?
It's become the answer, yes. The refinery only started making aviation fuel last year, but it's producing at maximum capacity now. In March alone it sent 130,000 tonnes to the UK. No other facility in West Africa is doing that volume.
But there's a labor problem there?
More than a labor problem—a labor dispute that was still unfolding when the government decided to rely on this facility. Over 800 workers were allegedly fired for joining a union. The company denies it was about union membership, says they were disrupting operations. The government had to step in and broker a deal.
So the workers were rehired?
Redeployed, technically. To other parts of the Dangote Group—salt, sugar, cement divisions. The company says no loss of pay. But the unions had called the place a plantation of exploitation, said wages were among the lowest in Nigeria's oil sector.
Does the government care about that?
The government says it's monitoring the situation. But the transport secretary's message was clear: we need the fuel, and we're confident we'll get it. When you're facing a potential aviation crisis, labor practices at a foreign refinery become a secondary concern.
What happens if Dangote can't keep up, or if the labor situation destabilizes again?
That's the real risk. The refinery is now a single point of failure for British summer travel. If supply drops or disputes flare up again, there's no backup plan that's been made public.