scholarly journals The Oil and Gas Industry and the Niger Delta: Implications for the Environment

Author(s):  
OO Emoyan
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Humphrey Otombosoba Oruwari

Abstract Nigerian oil and gas industry have over the years witnessed incessant conflicts between the stakeholders, particularly the host communities in Niger Delta region and the oil and gas companies in partnership with the Federal Government. Conflict which is here defined as manifestation of disagreement between individual and groups arising from differing and mutually incompatible interests has both positive and negative effects depending on how it was managed. Managing conflicts is all about limiting the negative aspects. The study examined conflicts management in Nigeria oil and gas industry and how best the positive elements of conflicts can be maximally exploited for the mutual benefit of both oil and gas company and the host communities in Niger Delta. The study adopted the multidisciplinary approach, literature review, case study and relied on secondary sources using analytical method of data analysis. The study findings revealed that the major factors that precipitate conflicts between the oil and gas industry and host communities in Niger Delta include economic, social, political, and ecological factors. There are available strategies that can be used in conflict management. These include avoiding, accommodating, or smoothing, competing, or forcing, compromising, and collaborating. Any of these strategies can be used to manage conflict depending on the situation, the environment factor, and the nature of the conflict. The problem is that the oil and gas companies in partnership with the Nigerian government often adopted the wrong approach in dealing with the conflict with host communities, using avoiding or forcing strategies. The study recommends collaboration strategy which ensues long term-term solution to mutual benefits.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Afungchwi Ronald Ngwashi ◽  
David O. Ogbe ◽  
Dickson O. Udebhulu

Abstract Data analytics has only recently picked the interest of the oil and gas industry as it has made data visualization much simpler, faster, and cost-effective. This is driven by the promising innovative techniques in developing artificial intelligence and machine-learning tools to provide sustainable solutions to ever-increasing problems of the petroleum industry activities. Sand production is one of these real issues faced by the oil and gas industry. Understanding whether a well will produce sand or not is the foundation of every completion job in sandstone formations. The Niger Delta Province is a region characterized by friable and unconsolidated sandstones, therefore it's more prone to sanding. It is economically unattractive in this region to design sand equipment for a well that will not produce sand. This paper is aimed at developing a fast and more accurate machine-learning algorithm to predict sanding in sandstone formations. A two-layered Artificial Neural Network (ANN) with back-propagation algorithm was developed using PYTHON programming language. The algorithm uses 11 geological and reservoir parameters that are associated with the onset of sanding. These parameters include depth, overburden, pore pressure, maximum and minimum horizontal stresses, well azimuth, well inclination, Poisson's ratio, Young's Modulus, friction angle, and shale content. Data typical of the Niger Delta were collected to validate the algorithm. The data was further split into a training set (70%) and a test set (30%). Statistical analyses of the data yielded correlations between the parameters and were plotted for better visualization. The accuracy of the ANN algorithm is found to depend on the number of parameters, number of epochs, and the size of the data set. For a completion engineer, the answer to the question of whether or not a well will require sand production control is binary-either a well will produce sand or it does not. Support vector machines (SVM) are known to be better suited as the machine-learning tools for binary identification. This study also presents a comparative analysis between ANN and SVM models as tools for predicting sand production. Analysis of the Niger Delta data set indicated that SVM outperformed ANN model even when the training data set is sparse. Using the 30% test set, ANN gives an accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 - Score of about 80% while the SVM performance was 100% for the four metrics. It is then concluded that machine learning tools such as ANN with back-propagation and SVM are simple, accurate, and easy-to-use tools for effectively predicting sand production.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 188
Author(s):  
Oluyomi A. Osobajo ◽  
David Moore

The Nigerian oil and gas industry (NOGI) has over time been dominated by the Nigerian government and oil producing companies (OPCs). The influences of the community stakeholder on OPCs in the last three decades have been expressed in diverse ways by different community sub-groups through their concerns and interests, some of which have severely impacted on the NOGI. Community within this context is categorised as a primary stakeholder, while the sub-groups are secondary stakeholders that emerge from within the community. Hence, the success of the NOGI largely depends on the Nigerian government and the oil producing companies, and other players such as Non-Governmental Organisations recognising the community as a key player and having appropriate knowledge of the different sub-groups of secondary stakeholders within the community in order to understand their intentions, behaviour, interests, influences and interrelations. Such knowledge is relevant to the NOGI’s formulation of future oil and gas strategy.This study commences with an overview of the primary stakeholders (i.e. the Nigerian government, OPC and the community), their respective activities, participation and the link between these stakeholders with a specific focus on the NOGI context. Subsequently, various sub-groups of secondary stakeholders within the community and their respective interest(s) are identified in detail.


Author(s):  
Victor A. Akujuru ◽  
Les Ruddock

Purpose – This study aims at identifying the consequences of adopting statutory rather than market basis in assessing damages due to contamination to land. Most valuations undertaken to assess compensation for damages due to contamination on land are done with valuation methods prescribed by law for the compulsory acquisition of land. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 80 registered valuation firms with experience in both compulsory acquisition and damage assessment participated in a questionnaire survey to ascertain the methods adopted in valuing when determining the compensation payable as damages due to land contamination and the need for a framework for such valuations, in addition to some archival documents relating to the relevant laws and some purposively selected valuation reports, which were reviewed. Findings – The results of the analysis indicate that the use of compulsory acquisition valuation methods results in inadequate damages, which engenders conflicts among the stakeholders. The absence of any framework for damage assessment is responsible for the current practice in the Niger Delta, and it is recommended that international best practices utilising market basis of valuation be adopted. Research limitations/implications – Most valuation methods available are useful for valuing commercial properties regularly traded in the market and not applicable to the Niger Delta, which is mostly rural with very few market transactions. It is expected that this study will enable oil and gas industry operators, professional valuers advising the land owners or operators in the industry and the government to differentiate compensation paid for compulsory acquisition and compensation required to placate those suffering losses due to contamination. Practical implications – The findings will assist professional valuers to be more professional in valuing contaminated land devastated by oil spills. Social implications – Adopting the findings will engender a greater acceptability of the results of valuations undertaken in the wake of an oil spillage disaster and ensure a peaceful environment for the oil operators and the entire populace. Originality/value – The findings of this study are expected to assist policymakers in emerging economies and professional valuers acting in these environments to avoid precipitating crises by adopting inappropriate valuation techniques when assessing damages due to contamination. This study is original and has not been published elsewhere.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Babatunde Oni

Abstract Objective and scope This paper aims to establish that proper resource management and governance within the Nigerian oil and gas industry, more specifically, her local participation policy, which focuses on adequately addressing the social and economic concerns of the host communities in oil producing regions of Nigeria, particularly in the Niger Delta, will ultimately lead to more secure and sustainable economic development and a more attractive investment climate for Nigeria. Methods Procedure, process This research study will employ an analytical approach, more specifically qualitative analysis, in analyzing the interplay between the various factors which have birthed low oil and gas productivity in the Niger delta region of Nigeria and how proper application of Nigeria's local participation policy can influence the circumstances and yield positive result. The research study will rely heavily on available literature and legislative enactments, as well as available case law on the issues concerned. The primary sources in the collection of materials for this paper will comprise of journals, books, and articles which address the relevant research questions guiding the scope of this paper. Results, Observation, conclusion Nigeria's local content policy, just like many other governmental policies in Nigeria, has been criticized as being vulnerable to corruption as a result of the manifest lack of transparency in the Nigerian oil and gas industry, and local content has already been labelled as a potential victim of capture as a result of this dearth in transparency. It is imperative that the broad discretionary powers granted to the local content monitoring board, and the minister of petroleum by the provisions of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act, be utilized in a manner devoid of parochial ethnic sentiments or political interest, in order for Nigeria to properly take advantage of the economic development benefits provided by the proper implementation of local content policy. The long term benefits of local content policy such as technology transfer, long term fiscal incentives, and the growth of local commerce and industry, will go a long way in setting Nigeria on a plain path to sustainable economic growth and better resource management. It is important that the Nigerian government play its role in driving local content policy by facilitating Nigerian enterprises to take active part in the local content programs, as well as keep tabs and monitor the effectiveness of local content policy in achieving its targets. New or additive information to the industry Proper implementation of Local Content policy in Nigeria will be beneficial, not just for the host communities but for the rest of the country, as well as for all investors in the Nigerian oil and gas industry, by providing thousands of employment opportunities for the locals, as well as providing a much needed technology transfer which will result in a structural transformation of not just the local manufacturing industries in Nigeria but the entire Nigerian oil and gas industry as well; thus addressing a major aspect of the social and economic concerns of the local people, and also giving Nigeria's economy a much needed boost towards achieving sustainable development in her natural resources sector.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Ejoor Agbonifo

Risk management practice and effective policy intervention are critical to achieve stable environment and sustainable development. They are mechanisms for environmental management, environmental sustainability and sustainable community development for the people of the Niger Delta region. Informed by intuitive insights on the large scale of degradation in the Niger Delta, theoretical analysis of extant literature and content analysis of field interview/observation, this paper identified poor environmental risk management and regulatory failure as the bane of environmental degradation in the Niger Delta region. Why has regulatory agencies failed to protect communities against the impacts of environmental degradation and other consequences of oil and gas exploration activities? While there are enough legal and regulatory frameworks, however, weak enforcement and poor implementation of the existing regulations provides fertile ground for environmental degradation to persist. Thus, this article analyses some of the salient environmental issues as well as the regulatory and risk management failures in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria. It concludes that failure to carry out effective regulations and oversight in the oil and gas industry have resulted in environmental degradation (oil spills and gas flaring), contamination of water for fishing and farming activities, dispossession of rural farmers from their means of livelihood, poverty, migration and food shortages in the Niger Delta.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document