oil industry

Pipelines of the Niger Delta

Brian — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 19:54:01 +0000

Okrika is a troubled area near Port Harcourt that has oil, refineries, pipelines and violence. Factional fighting is common here. Fishing is struggling, like in most of the delta, but was once the main source of employment.

Scenes of community life around the NNPC (Nigerian National Petroleum) pipelines that run directly through this community. Photo by Ed Kashi (6/23/2006).

Wading Through Polluted Waters

Brian — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 19:48:12 +0000

In the village of Odiemereyi, an oil spill from an old Total pipeline from 1968 spoils a swamp near fields of the community. People must pass through the polluted waters to get to their fields and farms.

Chief Sunday Ugwu, 53, whose land the spill has effected, wades through the oil muck to work in his fields. Photo by Ed Kashi (6/21/2006).

Aerial Views of Bonny Island Gas Terminal

Brian — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 19:43:35 +0000

Aerial views of Bonny Island NLNG (Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas) terminal. This terminal is the largest of it's kind in the delta and is a owned by a consortium of Shell, Total of France, Exxon Mobil and Agip of Italy.

The local villages are very close by and none of the inhabitants work in this facility. Photo by Ed Kashi (6/11/2006).

Fishing in Polluted Waters

admin — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:07:34 +0000

With the Mobil Exxon Gas Plant across the water, fishermen arrive to drop their catches of bonga fish, gold fish, silver fish and crayfish. Due to pollution caused by the oil companies, the catches have decreased in quality and quantity. This has caused major problems of unemployment for the local young men. The local women haggle over the size and price of their purchases along the waterside.

This scene is in the fishing village of Finima, which is a newly relocated community caused by the rapid growth of the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas plant on Bonny Island.

Playing Soccer Near Mobil Oil

Brian — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:49:26 +0000

In a small village on Bonny Island, a group of children play soccer on a dirt field across from a Mobil Oil tank farm. The living conditions for the local community are very basic, with no running water and only sporadic electricity. The riches from oil and natural gas production are some of the highest in the world, yet the local communities live in grinding poverty. Photo by Ed Kashi (7/30/2004).

Outhouses and Children

Brian — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:42:41 +0000

In Bonny town uncontrolled growth due to oil and gas development, has caused environmental chaos and degradation. Pictured here are outhouses on stilts, where the same waters are used for defecating, bathing, fishing and garbage. Photo by Ed Kashi (7/30/2004).

Baking Over a Gas Flare

Brian — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:36:22 +0000

In the oil town of Afiesere, in Warri North district of the Niger Delta, local Urohobo people bake "krokpo-garri", or tapioca in the heat of a gas flare. Since 1961, when Shell Petroleum Development Company first opened this flow station, residents of the local community have worked in this way. Life span is short for these people, as pollutants from the flare cause serious health problems. Photo by Ed Kashi (7/28/2004).

Scene of an Offshore Oil Rig

Brian — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:31:15 +0000

Scenes of the oil rig Auntie Julie the Martyr, run by Conoil, off the coast of Sanghana town in the Niger Delta. Conoil is a Nigerian owned oil company. Photo by Ed Kashi (7/24/2004).

Oil Spill

Brian — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:26:27 +0000

An oil spill from an abandoned Shell Petroleum Development Company well in Oloibiri, Niger Delta. Wellhead 14 was closed in 1977 but has been leaking for years, and in June of 2004 it finally released an oil spill of over 20,000 barrels of crude. Workers subcontracted by Shell Oil Company clean it up. Photo by Ed Kashi (7/18/2004).

Pipelines of the Niger Delta

Brian — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:42:07 +0000

Living conditions in Okrika, in the Niger Delta, with evidence of oil leaks and oil fires along the pipelines that run to the coast terminal managed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC). Photo by Ed Kashi (7/17/2004).