Multinational oil corporations and environmental challenges in the Nigerian oil industry

The multinational oil corporations (MNOCs) are business entities who operate
with the sole purpose of maximizing profits. This work assumes that in actualising this
purpose, MNOCs operations have not been consistent with good oilfield practice and
have therefore had dire consequences on the environment and people of the host
communities in the Niger-Delta region of Nigeria. To this extent, the study examines
the impact and consequences of MNOCs operations on the Niger-Delta environment,
their efforts at preventing and controlling oil pollution and rehabilitating unavoidably
polluted areas, as well as determining MNOCs level of compliance with international
and national standards and guidelines on environmental protection.
Data for the work were collected during field trips to various oil producing
areas, and during interviews with the oil producing communities and experts on
MNOCs and environmental issues. These were supplemented with extracts from
published and unpublished scholarly works. The data obtained were analysed using a
descriptive and analytical method, while the concept of sustainable development was
adopted as an appropriate framework of analysis.
The research reveals that in their operations in Nigeria, MNOCs have not
always conformed with "good oilfield practices". This failure, it is discovered has dire
consequences for both the environment and people of the host communities in the
Niger Delta. It has led to deforestation, damaged landforms, and vast pollution and
devastation of cultivable land. Also, wells, ponds, creeks and rivers have been
polluted, aquatic lives negatively impacted on and in some cases there has been loss of
fish, crustaceans and other aquatic animals.