Effluent quality and wastes from petroleum drilling operations in the Niger Delta, Nigeria

Abstract

The research assessed the development of petroleum drilling activities and its associated waste discharges in the Niger Delta environment of Nigeria. Field visits were made to 18 wells in which petroleum drilling operation was in progress. Of this number, wastes samples were randomly collected from ten wells for data collation and laboratory analysis. Results show that petroleum drilling waste types in Nigeria include cuttings, mud/chemical, oil spills, cement slurry/dust, condemned pipes, filters, and machinery parts and even noise. Pretreatment of waste in hardly undertaken by the oil prospective companies before discharge into the surrounding environment. Total dissolved solid and oil/grease values as high as 3700mg l–1 and 1100 parts per million, respectively, were tested as effluent discharges around some of the wells studied. It was recommended that the Nigerian Government constitute a powerful environment monitoring body whose responsibility will be to ensure that the various multi‐national oil companies comply with petroleum laws and statutes of the country.