| Nigeria, one of the world’s largest oil exporters, has a coastline of approximately 853km facing the Atlantic Ocean. This coastline lies between latitude 4o 10’ to 6o 20’ N and longitude 2o 45’ to 8o 35’ E. The Nigerian coast is composed of four distinct geomorphology units namely the Barrier-Lagoon Complex; the Mud Coast; the Arcuate Niger Delta and the Strand Coast. 90-95% of export revenues in Nigeria is from the oil sector. Nigeria’s oil reserves are about 31.5 billion barrels, while Nigeria’s crude oil production averaged 2.118 million barrels per day in 2002. Oil spillage is a major environmental problem in Nigeria. Between 1976 and 1996 Nigeria recorded a total of 4835 oil spill incidents, which resulted in a loss of 1,896,960 barrels of oil to the... |
