Oil Pollution in Coastal Waters of Nigeria

The petroleum industry in Nigeria has become the largest industry and the main Gross Domestic Product (GDP) generator in Western Africa. Nigeria’s proven oil reserves make Nigeria the most affluent country in Africa and the tenth most petroleum-rich one in the world. The main oil fields are concentrated in and around the Niger River Delta, which is seriously damaged by oil leakages. It has been estimated that between 9 and 13 million barrels have been spilled since oil drilling started in 1958. Between 1976 and 2001 the Government documented 6817 spills, but analysts suspect that the real number may be ten times higher. Little is known about oil spills in the coastal zone of Nigeria, but offshore spills contaminate coastal environments and cause a decline in local fishing production. We present a general view on oil pollution in the coastal waters of Nigeria, based on the analysis of historical information and recent Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) data, with a focus on the Bonga oil spill case study, which occurred on 20 December 2011.