Geospatialization of Causative Factors for Spdc 2015 Oil Spill Incidents in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria

Abstract

One hundred and thirty two oil spills occurred in SPDC operational areas in the Niger Delta Area of Nigeria in the year 2015.The JIV reports consequently generated for each of the spills were critically studied using GIS with a bias towards the cause of the spill. Different maps were generated to annotate our findings. It was deduced that of the three major causative factors viz Sabotage, Operational , Mystery and others ,Sabotage accounted for 110(83.33%) of the spills, Operational causes 17(12.88%) , Mystery and Others 5(3.79%).Consequently of the 18,233.04bbl of Oil that was spilled, sabotage was responsible for the spillage of about 16,824bbl (92.27%), Operational 1038.51bbl(5.70%), Mystery and others 370.5bbl(2.03%).Sabotage is largely responsible for the oil spills in the Niger Delta. The JIV reports are definitely useful and a lot more information can be extracted from them with greater speed and ease when their geospatialization becomes the norm.