NIGERIA
. . . .
We
depend on fishing and farming, and to take that away from us —
it’s genocide. If you take away our land, and then you pollute
the water and so on, it’s just saying we don’t have
any right to live.
-Ken
Saro-Wiwa
The
Niger River Delta, on the southwestern coast of Nigeria in western
Africa, is a vital and life-sustaining natural resource. Sprawl-ing
over a 70,000 square-kilometer region five degrees north of the
Equator, it not only drains the Niger and Benue rivers, but also
embraces the largest wetland in Africa and one of the continent’s
largest stands of coastal mangrove forest. Its web of streams,
freshwater swamps, and coastal barrier islands make it one of
the richest biological areas in the world. Its fertile soils have
supported the cultivation of rice, sugar cane, cassava, palm oil,
yams and beans for decades.
Thanks
in part to its rich mangrove breeding grounds, it has more freshwater
fish species that any other coastal system in West Africa. But
the Niger Delta is rich in something else too — oil. For
beneath the surface, within what are termed "relatively simple
geological structures" are estimated proven oil reserves
of 22.5 billion barrels. Although the majority of the oil deposits
found in the Delta are considered small — each with 50 million
barrels or less — at least 250 of them have been identified
and opened, with another 200 yet to be mea-sured.
And
the Niger Delta’s crude is good crude — the kind oilmen
love — with a low sulfur content and a light, flowable viscosity.
But that’s not all. Nigeria also has natural gas. With proven
reserves estimated at 124 trillion cubic feet, it is the world’s
ninth largest source. But it is the oil that has created the most
promise and the most peril. Royal Dutch Shell has been involved
in Nigeria longer than any other major oil company. Its roots
go back to the country’s time as a British colony, and to
1937 when the Colonial Mineral Ordinance gave Shell D’Arcy
exclusive exploration and prospecting rights.
For a copy of the book send e-mail to info@shellfacts.com
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