International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Vol XXXV, Part B7. Istanbul 2004 
  
undiscovered gas potential of about 100 tcf, making Nigeria one 
of the world's leading gas producers. The government is making 
efforts to re-channel these flared and largely untapped resources 
to several areas of usage. 
2.0 Causes of Oil Spillage 
In Nigeria, fifty percent (5096) of oil spills is due to corrosion, 
twenty eight percent (28%) to sabotage and twenty one percent 
(21%) to oil production operations. One percent (1%) of oil spills is 
due to engineering drills, inability to effectively control oil wells, 
failure of machines, and inadequate care in loading and unloading oil 
vessels. 
Thousands of barrels of oil have been let loose into the environment 
through our oil pipelines and tanks in the country. This loss is as a 
result of our lack of regular maintenance of the pipelines and storage 
tanks. Most pipelines from the flow stations are obsolete. By 
international standards, oil pipes ought to be replaced after 15 to 
20 years, but most pipelines in use are 20 to 25 years old, making 
them subject to corrosion and leakage. Some of these pipes are 
laid above ground level without adequate surveillance, exposing 
them to wear and tear and other dangers (Oyem, 2001). About 
40,000 barrels of oil spilled into the environment through the 
offshore pipeline in Idoho. 
Sabotage is another major cause of oil spillage in the country. 
Some of the citizens of this country in collaboration with people 
from other countries engage in oil bunkering. They damage and 
destroy oil pipelines in their effort to steal oil from them. Pirates 
are stealing Nigeria's crude oil at a phenomenal rate, funneling 
nearly 300,000 barrels per day from our oil and selling it illegally 
on the international trade market. 
Illegal fuel siphoning as a result of the thriving black market for 
fuel products has increased the number of oil pipeline explosions 
in recent years. In July 2000, a pipeline explosion outside the city 
of Warri caused the death of 250 people. An explosion in Lagos 
in December 2000 killed at least 60 people. The NNPC reported 
800 cases of pipeline vandalization from January through October 
2000. In January 2001, The Nigeria lost about $4 billion in oil 
revenues in 2000 due to the activities of vandals on our oil 
installations. 
Nigeria lost about N7.7 billion in 2002 as a result of vandalisation 
of pipelines carrying petroleum products. The amount, according 
to the PPMC, a subsidiary of NNPC, represents the estimated 
value of the products lost in the process. The Nigerian 
government and oil companies say up to 15 percent of the 
country's two million barrels per day oil production is taken 
illegally taken from pipelines in the Niger Delta and smuggled 
abroad. 
2.1 Review of Oil Spill Incidents in Nigerian 
Oil spill incidents have occurred in various parts and at different . 
times along our coast. According to the Department of Petroleum 
Resources (DPR), between 1976 and 1996 a total of 4647 
incidents resulted in the spill of approximately 2,369,470 barrels 
of oil into the environment. Of this quantity, an estimated 
1,820,410.5 barrels (77%) were lost to the environment. 
Available records for the period 1976 to 1996 indicated that 
approximately 6%, 25%, and 69% respectively, of total oil spilled 
in the Niger Delta area, were in land, swamp and offshore 
environments. Some major spills in the coastal zone are the 
GOCON's Escravos spill in 1978 of about 300,000 barrels, 
SPDC's Forcados Terminal tank failure in 1978 of about 580,000 
barrels and Texaco Funiwa-5 blow out in 1980 of about 400,000 
barrels. Other oil spill incidents are those of the Abudu pipe line 
in 1982 of about 18,818 barrels, The Jesse Fire Incident which 
claimed about a thousand lives and the Idoho Oil Spill of January 
1998, of about 40,000 barrels. The most publicised of all oil spills 
in Nigeria occurred on January 17 1980 when a total of 37.0 million 
litres of crude oil got spilled into the environment. This spill 
occurred as a result of a blow out at Funiwa 5 offshore station. The 
heaviest recorded spill so far occurred in 1979 and 1980 with a net 
volume of 694,117.13 barrels and 600,511.02 barrels respectively. 
3.0 IMPACTS OF OIL SPILLAGE ON THE 
ENVIRONMENT 
Little is known about the effects of petroleum pollution on 
shoreline communities (Garrity and Levings, 1990; McGuiness, 
1990; Burns et al, 1993; Gesamp, 1993). Major oil spills heavily 
contaminate marine shorelines, causing severe localised 
ecological damage to the near-shore community. 
Ever since the discovery of oil in Nigeria in the 1950s, the 
country has been suffering the negative environmental 
consequences of oil development. The growth of the country's oil 
industry, combined with a population explosion and a lack of 
environmental regulations, led to substantial damage to Nigeria's 
environment, especially in the Niger Delta region, the center of 
the country's oil industry. 
Oil spills pose a major threat to the environment in Nigeria. If not 
checked or effectively managed, they could lead to total 
annihilation of the ecosystem, especially in the Niger Delta where 
oil spills have become prevalent. Life in this region is 
increasingly becoming unbearable due to the ugly effects of oil 
spills, and many communities continue to groan under the 
degrading impact of spills (Oyem, 2001). 
In the Nigerian Coastal environment a large areas of the mangrove 
ecosystem have been destroyed. The mangrove was once a source 
of both fuel wood for the indigenous people and a habitat for the 
area's biodiversity, but is now unable to survive the oil toxicity of 
its habitat. The oil spills also had an adverse effect on marine life, 
which has become contaminated; in turn having negative 
consequences for human health from consuming contaminated 
seafood. Oil spill has also destroyed farmlands, polluted ground and 
drinkable water and caused drawbacks in fishing off the coastal 
waters. 
Oil spills in the Niger Delta have been a regular occurrence, and 
the resultant environmental degradation of the surrounding 
environment has caused significant tension between the people 
living in the region and the multinational oil companies operating 
there. It is only in the past decade that environmental groups, the 
Nigerian federal government, and the foreign oil companies that 
extract oil in the Niger Delta have begun to take steps to mitigate 
the damage. Although the situation is improving with more 
stringent environmental regulations for the oil industry, marine 
pollution is still a serious problem 
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