The Niger Delta: Soaked in Oil

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Like many places around the world the Niger Delta is cursed. It's cursed by the vast resources that lay underground in the form of oil. Since the 1950's the Nigerian government along with multinational corporations have been extracting oil from this region and devastating the ecosystem and its people. Today, Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer, extracting 2 million barrels of oil a day, leading to oil making up 80% of their national revenue.

So who's pumping all of this oil (and spilling a lot of it)? The largest producer of oil in the Niger Delta is The Shell Petroleum Development Company, or just Shell as most people know it, however there are a number of other multinational corporations working in the area. No matter who it is, there is a lot of oil being spilt in the Niger Delta.

Read the rest of the article at HydrateLife:The Niger Delta: Soaked in Oil

1 Answer

  1. Thanks for posting this discussion! Oil pollution is an incredibly threatening type of pollution and should deserve more attention. We certainly still remember the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico: it was everywhere in the news and we can still read about the negative prolonged effects that this disaster had on the marine ecosystem as well as on tourism and the fisheries. Recently I read about another oil spill in Canada where 3000 barrels of crude oil have leaked into the Red Deer river, destroying a pristine environment and several economic activities, though not compromising the quality of drinking water. Preventing such oil spills should be a priority in the political agenda. Also because, to my knowledge, there are very few ways to contain them and the damages caused are more serious than we might expect.

    1 Comment

    1. Thanks for the comment Karen. i agree with what you said. unfortunately there are a lot more oil spills throughout the world than we hear about. Take a look at the slideshow at the bottom of this link. It shows some oil spills that most people dont know about. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/15/salazar-shell-drilling-arctic_n_1777408.html#slide=1255346