The Impact of Oil and Gas Development on the Landscape and Surface in Nigeria

Abstract

This writing will focus on the impact on the impact of oil and gas development on the landscape, surface water and groundwater of the Niger Delta – while also assessing the various means of remediation in use. Geologically, the Niger Delta petroleum systems consist of Lower Cretaceous , Upper Cretaceous–lower Paleocene and Tertiary. When Nigeria became an independent nation on 1 October 1960, Shell–BP began to relinquish its acreage and its exploration licenses were converted into prospecting licenses that allowed development and production. The Federal Government of Nigeria started its Department of Petroleum Resources Inspectorate in 1970 and Nigeria joined the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in 1971. – and in order to take control of the country’s petroleum industry, Nigeria nationalized BP’s holding completely in 1979, and Shell–BP became Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria. Oil spillages routinely occur in the Niger Delta. The official figures of SPDC show that between 1976 and 2001, 6,187 incidents in which 3 million barrels were spilled. The Niger Delta Environmental Survey An impact assessment of the 1983 Oshika oil spill. Spills of crude oil in Niger Delta farmlands have been reported since 1971. In general, toxicity depends on nature and type of crude oil , level of oil contamination, type of environment and degree of selective of individual organisms. Controlled burning effectively reduce the amount of oil in water, if done properly but it must be done in low wind and can cause air pollution. A principal target for emissions reduction is flaring and venting which causes most of the air pollution. Saltwater tanks can be often susceptible to lightning strikes due to build up in static electricity, with the spilled oil spreading to surrounding lands, waterways. This requires a secondary containment of the tanks that makes it easier to clean up the inevitable spill. In cases of expected major storms or flooding events, crude oil can be removed from tank batteries while refilling the tanks with saltwater to prevent them tipping over during the flooding event.

Assessing Environmental Impact and Socioeconomic Consequences of Oil and Gas Spillage on Soil in Warri, Southern Nigeria

“…However, the oil and gas industry has also been associated with negative environmental impacts, particularly the contamination of soil, water, and air through oil spills and gas flaring (Adeola et al, 2022).. Elekwachi et al, 2022 stated that insufficient servicing and poor maintenance of the oil and gas equipment such as preventer blowout, wellhead, flow lines or pipelines, sabotage, accidental and equipment failures by the oil companies. Between 1976 and 1997, there were 5,334 reported cases of crude oil spillages releasing about 2.8million barrels of oil into the land, mangroves, waterways, estuaries, and coastal regions of Nigeria (Dublin-Green et al, 1998;Elekwachi et al, 2022;Orish 2021;Sakib 2021). Crude oil spillage can cause a reduction of the available nutrients in the soil and add some toxic elements, which results in the death of plants and diminished soil fertility (Aghalino, 2000).…”

Assessing the Impact of Gas Flaring and Carbon Dioxide Emissions on Precipitation Patterns in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria Using Geospatial Analysis

“…It is home to over 800 oil-producing communities and has an extensive network of over 900 producing oil wells and petroleum production-related facilities [8] . According to Sakib [9] , the ecological zones in the Niger Delta can be broadly divided into two: the tropical rainforest in the northern part of the delta and the mangrove forest in the warm coastlines of Nigeria. Mangrove forests and swamps, which are characterized by regular saltwater inundation, lie at the centre of a complex and sensitive ecosystem that is vital to the local economy and accommodates important flora and fauna.…”

In-Silico Deterioration of Plastic by Dietzia Maris Strain Cytochrome P450 Cyp153a16

“…Today, a large quantity of different types of pollutants are being produced due to various human activities such as waste plastic (Chae and An, 2018), microplastic like PEG (Xia et al, 2020), use of private vehicles toxifying the air (Zhang and Batterman, 2013), emission of organic gases (Mølhave, 1982), drug pollution (Larsson, 2014), pesticides (Thompson, 1973), health risks due to aromatic hydrocarbon pollution (Wang et al, 2011), petroleum-based products like petroleum hydrocarbons (Pinedo et al, 2013), oil pollution (Sakib, 2021), and other industrial waste. These are newly emerging pollutants which are harming the living and non-living environment.…”