The Niger Delta in Pictures - Seeing is believing

Polluted environment

The water is not drinkable

More pictures

Horrid Situation

Environmental Degradation

Environmental Catastrophe

Inside Port Harcourt

thats terrible the government should be punishing those companies

A Shell oil secured inlet manifold is seen in the Niger Delta swamps of Bodo, a village in the famous Nigerian oil-producing Ogoniland, which hosts the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in Nigeria's Rivers State on June 24, 2010. The region has in recent years experienced an average 300 spills a year, roughly one spill a day, from terminals, pipes and platforms, according to government officials and experts. Sabotage of oil facilities by armed rebels fighting a fairer share of oil wealth for locals and theft of crude, popularly known as oil bunkering in recent years saw spills spiking to new levels.

Gaagaa Gidom, a 60 year-old fisherman and father of eight looks at the spilled crude oil floating over his shadow in the waters of the Niger Delta swamps of Bodo, a village in the famous Nigerian oil-producing Ogoniland, which hosts the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in Nigeria's Rivers State on June 24, 2010. The region has in recent years experienced an average 300 spills a year, roughly one spill a day, from terminals, pipes and platforms, according to government officials and experts. Sabotage of oil facilities by armed rebels fighting a fairer share of oil wealth for locals and theft of crude, popularly known as oil bunkering in recent years saw spills spiking to new levels.

A man scoops spilled crude oil into a bottle from the waters of the Niger Delta swamps of Bodo, a village in the famous Nigerian oil-producing Ogoniland, which hosts the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in Nigeria's Rivers State on June 24, 2010. The region has in recent years experienced an average 300 spills a year, roughly one spill a day, from terminals, pipes and platforms, according to government officials and experts. Sabotage of oil facilities by armed rebels fighting a fairer share of oil wealth for locals and theft of crude, popularly known as oil bunkering in recent years saw spills spiking to new levels.

Spilled crude oil floats on the shores of the Niger Delta swamps of Bodo, a village in the famous Nigerian oil-producing Ogoniland, which hosts the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in Nigeria's Rivers State on June 24, 2010. The region has in recent years experienced an average 300 spills a year, roughly one spill a day, from terminals, pipes and platforms, according to government officials and experts. Sabotage of oil facilities by armed rebels fighting a fairer share of oil wealth for locals and theft of crude, popularly known as oil bunkering in recent years saw spills spiking to new levels.

Spilled crude oil floats on the waters around the Niger Delta swamps of Bodo, a village in the famous Nigerian oil-producing Ogoniland, which hosts the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in Nigeria's Rivers State on June 24, 2010. The region has in recent years experienced an average 300 spills a year, roughly one spill a day, from terminals, pipes and platforms, according to government officials and experts. Sabotage of oil facilities by armed rebels fighting a fairer share of oil wealth for locals and theft of crude, popularly known as oil bunkering in recent years saw spills spiking to new levels.

A man walks on slippery spilled crude oil on the shores and in the waters of the Niger Delta swamps of Bodo, a village in the famous Nigerian oil-producing Ogoniland, which hosts the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in Nigeria's Rivers State on June 24, 2010. The region has in recent years experienced an average 300 spills a year, roughly one spill a day, from terminals, pipes and platforms, according to government officials and experts. Sabotage of oil facilities by armed rebels fighting a fairer share of oil wealth for locals and theft of crude, popularly known as oil bunkering in recent years saw spills spiking to new levels.

A man walks near the spilled crude oil on the shores and in the waters of the Niger Delta swamps of Bodo, a village in the famous Nigerian oil-producing Ogoniland, which hosts the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in Nigeria's Rivers State on June 24, 2010. The region has in recent years experienced an average 300 spills a year, roughly one spill a day, from terminals, pipes and platforms, according to government officials and experts. Sabotage of oil facilities by armed rebels fighting a fairer share of oil wealth for locals and theft of crude, popularly known as oil bunkering in recent years saw spills spiking to new levels.

Spilled crude oil floats on the shores of the Niger Delta swamps of Bodo, a village in the famous Nigerian oil-producing Ogoniland, which hosts the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in Nigeria's Rivers State on June 24, 2010. The region has in recent years experienced an average 300 spills a year, roughly one spill a day, from terminals, pipes and platforms, according to government officials and experts. Sabotage of oil facilities by armed rebels fighting a fairer share of oil wealth for locals and theft of crude, popularly known as oil bunkering in recent years saw spills spiking to new levels.

A river snakes in the Niger Delta mangrove forest some 200 kms from Port Harcourt on May 23, 2009. French Prime Minister Francois Fillon flew over the landscape to visit the newly built Total Akpo oil drilling platform in Rivers State, which began production last March.

A river snakes in the Niger Delta mangrove forest some 200 kms from Port Harcourt on May 23, 2009. French Prime Minister Francois Fillon flew over the landscape to visit the newly built Total Akpo oil drilling platform in Rivers State, which began production last March.

Picture dated on April 14, 2009 shows an aerial view of Total oil platform at Amenem, 35 kilometers away from Port Harcourt in the Niger Delta. Amenem is the hub of Total oil production with two oil well producing over 100,000 barrels of crude daily.

Picture dated on April 14, 2009 shows gas flaring at the Total oil platform at Amenem, 35 kilometers away from Port Harcourt in the Niger Delta. Amenem is the hub of Total oil production with two oil well producing over 100,000 barrels of crude daily.

Niger Delta

Can we see the East in Pictures?

Nice man.

Very sad.

Question: Why do they flare the gas rather than capturing it and selling it?

eku_bear:

Very sad.

Question: Why do they flare the gas rather than capturing it and selling it? 

Because it requires less effort to flare and in the short term is cheaper (no need to invest in equipment to actually capture and process the gass). During the Yar Adua government we heard tales of gas flaring deadlines beyond which no oil company was allowed to flare gas, the deadline was shifted twice. . . These oil companies have really operated with a free hand for far too long. People who just like to argue for the sake of it would make you believe that the whole Niger Delta issue (especially with regards to resource control) is a new thing. To prove that it is not a new fad, inform yourself on who Isaac Boro was. The environmental issue of it also really really really is a problem and has caused serious loss of livelihoods (especially in the rural areas). Unfortunately it seems as long as Nigeria continues to get its oil money, it doesn't care.

^@akhenaten, not trying to steal your thunder there, just adding to it. Thanks for making your argument with these pictures, a lot of Nigerians do not understand the depth of our peoples pain and sufferings in the Niger Delta.

Thanks for this Akhenaten.

I recall growing up in Warri as a kid and young adult; there were days when the air in the whole town would reek of burnt natural gas; it was normal to turn on the tap for water to drink, take a sip and spit it out, because it tasted very fowl and stank like the devil, it also frequently had the sheen of oil on its surface.
The night was never dark, because there was the constant glow of flares turning the night sky orange. Many of us suffer various respiratory problems.

My experience was in Warri town, some distance away from the oil wells and drilling activities. So, any observer can simply extrapolate the real horrors of living close
to an oil well in areas where massive flares erupt from the ground a few short meters from built up areas.

Beaf:

Thanks for this Akhenaten.

I recall growing up in Warri as a kid and young adult; there were days when the air in the whole town would reek of burnt natural gas; it was normal to turn on the tap for water to drink, take a sip and spit it out, because it tasted very fowl and stank like the devil, it also frequently had the sheen of oil on its surface.
The night was never dark, because there was the constant glow of flares turning the night sky orange. Many of us suffer various respiratory problems.

My experience was in Warri town, some distance away from the oil wells and drilling activities. So, any observer can simply extrapolate the real horrors of living close
to an oil well in areas where massive flares erupt from the ground a few short meters from built up areas.

No problem. I have been doing research about the Niger Delta and everything I am reading is just bringing me to tears. Literally, I blame the Nigerian gov't for not caring for its vulnerable people. And I see nothing wrong with the reaction of the people that inhabit the Niger Delta. This is a fight for survival and I support this. The people of the Niger Delta deserve their own nation. I come to that conclusion. It has been 50 years of exploitation ever since the first oil well was built in 1958.

I will continue to post pictures to show what is occurring in the Niger Delta. This travesty most stop. The environment needs to be cleaned and the Nigerian Federal govt needs to be held accountable.

The Niger Delta

In Nigeria's southern Delta region, where four oil workers are being held hostage, a woman dries a basket of cassava beside flames from an oil flow station.