Environmental Impact of the Oil Industry
15.5.3 PRODUCTION
Interfaces of production activities and the environment (from an SPDC handbook of 1993):
| Production Activity | Interface | Potential Environmental Impact |
| General | Disturbance (construction) Disturbance (infrastructure) Waste (domestic only) |
Loss of vegetation/arable land Changed hydrology Communities, flora/fauna (undegradable) waste pits in the field |
| Well Operations | Soil (spillage) Waste (work over fluids) |
Soil, (ground) water pollution Communities, flora/fauna |
| Flow/pipelines | Soil/water (spillage) | Soil, (ground)water pollution Communities, flora/fauna |
| Flow stations | Air (flare) Soil (flare, carry over) |
Bad ambient air quality Deposition acid rain/soot/heavy metals Greenhouse effect Pollution/fire affection flora/fauna Communities, flora/fauna |
| Noise/hindrance (flare) Water (effluent) |
Soil/surface water quality Communities, flora/fauna |
There are four main specific impacts of oil production.
Production - Flaring
Flaring of associated gas must be considered as the most significant environmental impact of the Nigerian oil industry, both locally and globally. Reference has already been made to the fact that Nigeria flares more of its associated gas than any other oil producing country. And not just a little more only; about 75% of Nigerian oil is flared compared to its nearest competitor in this area, being Libya which is said to flare about 20%. However the 1995 World Bank report suggested a figure of 88%.
Globally, the most serious consequence of this flaring is the emission of about 35 million tons per year of CO2; and, (quoting the World Bank again), considering the low combustion efficiency of Nigerian flares (80%), a large portion of the gas is vented as methane.
Methane and Carbon Dioxide are the major "greenhouse" gases responsible for global warming; and, given that methane has the higher potential to be a greenhouse gas, Nigeria is considered by both the World Bank and the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) to be a significant contributor to global warming.
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