1. OIL PIPELINE FAILURE IN NIGERIA
NIGER DELTA AS A CASE STUDY
BY
SHADRACH CHUKWUDIKE NZEWUNWA
CEG30280
RESEARCH PROJECT SUBMITTED TO THE
COVENTRY FOUNDATION ONCAMPUS
In progression to
OIL AND GAS ENGINEERING (MSC)
AT COVENTRY UNIVERSITY
DATE

2. Table of Contents
ANALYSIS OF OIL PIPELINE FAILURE IN THE NIGERIA .......................................................................3
NIGER DELTA CASE STUDY............................................................................................................. 3
INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 3
BACKGROUND.......................................................................................................................... 4
HYPOTHESIS.......................................................................................................................... 4
OBJECTIVE................................................................................................................................ 4
TIME PLAN............................................................................................................................ 5
THE CHALLENGES SO FAR..........................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................ 6
RESEARCH PROJECT BUDGET..................................................................................................6
CHAPTER 2...................................................................................................................................7
INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................... 7
LITERATURE REVIEW.............................................................................................................. 7
Structural Problem.................................................................................................................... 7
Human Activities....................................................................................................................... 8
RECOMMENDATIONS.......................................................................................................... 10
CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................... 10
CHAPTER 3:................................................................................................................................ 11
Research methodology............................................................................................................ 11
Research Strategies................................................................................................................. 11
The Primary Research Method............................................................................................. 11
The Secondary Research Method......................................................................................... 12
Research Approach.............................................................................................................. 12
Samplingframework............................................................................................................ 12
Ethics and Bias. ................................................................................................................... 13
Limitation............................................................................................................................... 13
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................. 13

3. ANALYSIS OF OIL PIPELINE FAILURE IN THE NIGERIA
NIGER DELTA CASESTUDY
INTRODUCTION
Oil pipelinehasbeenamajorway of transportingcrude andrefinedoilsinceitwasdiscovered inNiger
Delta region of the country, Nigeria. It has had a bad effect on the environment and has directly
affected the local people living in that region whenthere are cases of spillage or oil ejection due to
damagesorfailure.Thisregion(NigerDelta)is madeupof different ecosystemof rainforest,mangrove
swamps, shallow salt water and fresh water etc. It’s said to be the biggest wetland in Africa and
therefore the most economical marine ecosystem in the Africa. However, due to oil pollution that
spillsfromoil pipelinethe areaischaracterizedasuninhabitablelandhavingitsnatural importanceto
the locals destroyed. This has totally affected the livelihood of the community whose major
occupations are farming and fishing, and has killed every hope of survival (Tolulope, A.O.(2004). Oil
Exploration and Environmental Degradation: The Nigerian Experience. International Information
Archives, 2: 387-393, International Society for Environmental Information Science)
18,000 kilometres of oil pipeline was installed to enhance the distribution of crude oil products to
other parts of the country (Onuoha, 2008). The installationof these oil lines involved the clearing of
large cultivatedland,the creeks and residential buildings tomake pipelinetracks.These pipelines go
through the rainforests and creeks withhigh incidence of leakages, crack and accidental discharges.
However,possible causesof these dischargescouldbe hottapping(vandalism),poorintegrity checks
due to agingand defects inmaterial,corrosionandpoormaterial usage. Mostof the reportedoil spill
cases occurred in the creek and swamp areas, which has more productive ecosystems (Nenibarini,
2004).
Although,the ownersof these oil pipeline (Oil companies) hascontributedalotto the growth of the
country economically which remains true to date but lack of maintenance and adequate
inspection/monitoring/policing of theoil pipelinefromdamage hasrenderedthe regionthefifth most
damagedenvironment inthe world. Henceforth,it’simperativethatoil producingcommunitiesinsist
onestablishedguildlines, standardsinthe design,construction andmaintenance of pipelinesfacilities
in their localities.

4. BACKGROUND
The Importantoil producingregioninthe NigerDeltaconsistof six statesandthese are Rivers,Delta,
Bayelsa, Edo, Cross Rivers and Akwa ibom states with an estimated number of five thousand, two
hundredand eighty-fourwellstogetherwithfive hundredandtwenty-fouroilwellsand flowstations.
These well headsandflowstationsare located acrossthe states with18,000 kilometre of oil pipeline
connecting them across the ecological differences with the possibility of leakages.
In August1983, at Omuku townin OkirikaAutonomouscommunity,close toBayelsa State witnessa
spill of about 5,000 barrels of crude oil from Ondo Bypass line which flooded the river, the area had
previouslyexperiencedanoil spill in September1979killingaquaticanimalslikefish,crabsandshrimp
etc. Shortly after the spill there were high rate of aquatic mortality. Certainly, this reduced the
production of fingerlings due to residual oil at the lake sediments (Gabriel, 2014).
The Egbama pipeline spillage occurred at Ifetedocommunity in February 1995, spilled about 24,000
barrelsof oil whichspreadacrossthe riverineareaandintothe brackishwaterswampmangrove. The
Shell PetroleumDevelopmentCompany(SPDC) since 1989 recordedan average of two hundredand
twenty-one spills in a year. Losings about seven thousand, three hundred and fifty barrels annually
(SPDCNigeriaBrief,May1995:3). From 1976-1996 a total of 4647 oil spill casesand 2,369,470 barrels
of oil ejectedintothe environmentof which1,820,410.5(77%) recollected.Mostof theseoilspillcases
in the Niger Delta occur on land, riverine and the offshore environment (Anifowose, B. (2008).
Assessing the Impact of Oil & Gas Transport on Nigeria’s Environment. U21 Postgraduate Research
Conference Proceedings 1, University of Birmingham UK.
HYPOTHESIS
Thisresearch work will highlightthe actual causative factorsof petroleumoil pipeline spillage/failure
and the associated environmental impact in such an important and reproductive wetland.
Furthermore, make recommendationthat will inform policy makers on the need for an enforceable
legislationtopreserve ourecosystem fromtotal extinction. Finally, thiswill equally serve asa useful
reference material and a catalyst that will stimulate future research.
OBJECTIVE
In view of my convictions in making effective recommendation, I intend to ascertain the causes of
petroleumpipelinefailure,it’simmediateimpacttothe ecosystemandthe oil producingcommunities
and also the limitation and challenges confronting the effective performance of these facilities.

5. TIME PLAN
As shownbelow,inthe time chart the researchis sectionally structuredaccordingtomilestones.This
project is designed to last for seven weeks but due to factors beyond my control and influence the
project had to pick up in the third week with every logistics carefully planned out.
Selection of research title, proposal, useful materials ranging from books, journals, articles and
website links was carried out third week, literature review followed suit at the fourth week.
Formulations of hypothetical and objective questions together with chapter 3, all in fifth week
concurrently. Questionnaire draft, analysing collected data and chapter 5 of the research work took
place sixth and seventh week consecutively.
THE CHALLENGES SO FAR
One of the major challenges confronting this research work is inadequate timing to collect sample
materials, conduct oversight functions and field inspection to help my analysis. Secondly, lack of
harmonized data collecting centre in the region and security challenges in the crises prone area.

6. CONCLUSION
Oil pipeline failure causes pollution of the environment with a significant negative effects; some of
these effect can be reduced, prevented or managed basically by taking some steps in effective
prevention/policing, monitoringandaerial surveillance of these facilities.Use of competentand well
trained personnel reduces the chance of environmental pollution.
RESEARCH PROJECT BUDGET
Thisis a carefullypreparedestimate of expendituresinexecutingthis research projectafterseriesof
consultations and market surveillance.
Numbers of
items
Activities Expenses
1 Books and
Journals
GBP 20
2 Photo copies
Materials
GBP 20
3 Transportations GBP 50
4 Contingency
plan
GBP 50
Total GBP 140

7. CHAPTER 2
INTRODUCTION.
The destruction of oil pipeline and eventually the spillage has been a common phenomenon in the
NigerDeltaforsome yearsnow,andhashaddisastrous andeconomicimpactonthe environmentand
source of livingof thepeople.The NigerDeltaconsistof ecosystemsof mangrove swamps,freshwater
swamp etc., and is the largest wetland in African and among the richest in Africa but due to oil
pollutioncausedbypipeline failures the environment is an ecological destroyed land in the world.
LITERATURE REVIEW
This study concerns analyzing the failure of oil pipe in the Oil and gas rich states of Nigeria with the
aim to know the causes of their failure, conduct a careful desk study of the limitations, examine the
effectiveness of the procedures for pipeline maintenance and emergency plans for addressing oil
pipeline failures in the Niger delta area of country. The inherent risk in pipeline in terms of operational
safety of people, damage to the environment and the loss of revenue has been a concern to pipeline
control managers.
Studies has shown that the cause of oil pipeline failure and environment pollution includes the
followings, Structural problem 40% which has to do with poor design, poor quality, corrosion attack
etc,inefficiently trained operator or workforce contributes 6%, Damages caused by human activities is
put at 52% and lastly Control problems, poor communication or communication barriers contributes
2% of the failures experienced in the pipeline facilities. (U.C. Nneke is with Nnamdi Azikiwe
University, Awka).
Structural Problem
The oil giant, Shell Nigeria petroleum development company that produces more fossil fuel in Nigeria
has said that some of their facilities were made in 1980s to the prevailing standard then and would not
have built same now. Many of these pipeline is old as thirty to thirty-five years and are susceptible to
corrosion. The reasonwhy it wasaccounted(structural problem) for 40% percentage of pipeline failure.
The major structural challenge of oil pipeline which leads to defect and failure as a result of poor and
low standard specification, is corrosion. Corrosion constantly occur along this oil pipelines as a result
of the rapidly oxidizing agent present in the hydrocarbon content of crude oil that constantly react with
the metal inner diameter of the Pipelines causing it to rust as long as being used to transport crude oil.
Suddenly rupture due to constant usage of these pipeline and does not give notice or sign when it

8. ruptures. Shell company declared ‘Casus fortuitus’ on one of its facilities at forcados depot last year
owning to leakages observed in their underwater pipeline, some of the causes attributed to the failure
includes structural problem, inefficient workforce and corrosion attack, 7,000 barriers of crude oil was
estimated to have escapedto the island (Bonny island) ("Shell Nigeria calls"forcemajeure"forexports".
BusinessRecorder.March 26, 2014) (Anifowose,B(2008) Assessingthe Impactof Oil &Gas Transport
on Nigeria’s Environment. U21 Postgraduate Research Conference Proceedings 1, University of
Birmingham UK)
Furthermore, petroleum pipelines carry crude oil from wellhead to flow stations with potential of
leakages and in many cases are laid above ground level with possibilities of hot tapping the lines in
such process ruptures the pipeline. The product that comes out from this pipes as a result of rupturing
comesin high pressure and ejectinto the environment, this alone cancause fire outbreak. Unfortunately,
the damaged oil pipeline goes unnoticed for a very long time spilling as much as thousands of barrel to
the environment.
The result of these activities has led to many loss of lives, homes, properties and source of livelihood.
Contaminated water,deathof aquatic organism and all manner of disease comesin this environmentally
challenged community many of which has left their ancestral home due to the rampart oil spill cases
happening repeated.
It’s good to note that the safety of these oil line depends not just on the designing but maintenance and
proper management. It is safer and cheaper to transport oil product across the nations of the world by
the use of pipelines but it’s maintenance is the concern. (Professor Phil Hopkins
(p.hopkins@penspen.com) is a Technical Director with Penspen Ltd., UK, and Visiting Professor at
Newcastle University, UK.)
Human Activities
It was discovered that third party activities contribute 52% of oil pipeline failure in the Niger delta. And
these activities include theft, vandalism, sabotage and act of terrorism. These exposed pipeline are
subject to attack by vandals and militant. Shell petroleum company working in the Niger delta one of
the giant company in the region has being constantly dealing with hot tapping of high pressurized
pipeline (illegally obtaining fuel from pipelines) cases. Some of the engineering challenges can be
handled aftermath of these events by pipelines operators: Same emergency procedures, environmental
clean-up repairs, etc. like other major product lost or failures.
Recorded oil pipeline vandalized cases in the Niger Delta was released statistically by the DPR
department of the NNPC. Statistical data representation of oil pipeline vandalized cases in the oil rich
region from 2004 to 2013, showing the activities of vandals and the gradual progression of oil pipeline

9. hostility and environmental degradation as a result of oil pipeline spillage in these period. The highest
recorded case of vandalized oil pipeline was in 2006 with a total number of 3,674 pipeline across the
region.
There was an oil pipeline explosion at Jesse town in Ethiope West local Government Area
where an oil spillage cause a very big crisis in 2006. The pipeline explosion killed over one
thousand people in that community and it was caused by a cracked pipeline passing through
the community to Warri refinery. Some of the neighboring community that was affected by
the spill include Ugborikoko, Ugboroke, uvwie and ekpan community, was indeed a massive
spillage. The barrels of crude oil that was lost in that explosion was put at six thousand. The
nationalpetroleumcorporationdidnot visit thesite noranyof its agencyto quickly assess the
impact and possibly stop the fire. (Vanguard News Paper, August 17 2015).
Therefore, no politically will and agenda to stop the continuous failure of these facilities from
the government of the day. However, the political framework of the Nation has not concretely
formulated laws to aggressively tackle these situations, making an enforceable law to bringing all
defaulter to justices. The Nigerian regulatory agency are weak and has no effective legislations
empowering them to fiercely enforce the law rather allowing the Industry in essence to self-regulate.
This is as a result of inconsistences in Government policies (change of government). (O.E. Anisiji was
with Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. He is now with Project Development Institute (PRODA),
Enugu.)

10. RECOMMENDATIONS
The government should ensure that International Standard Organizational recommendation of oil
pipeline life spam are maintained to attest to its integrity and competent workforce (ISO 14001).
The government should review every legislative act and licenses of the oil companies, increase in the
health and occupational hazard fines will go a long way in ensuring swift compliance even when they
cannot carry out frequent monitoring of the site. Adoption of environmentally friendly technology (Oil
pipeline specifically designed for Africa) that will minimize the frequency of failure.
The government should come alive on their statutory responsibility to the people and the environment
by speedily tackling cases of oil pipeline failure as in Jesse explosion accident to prevent further spread
and reoccurrence.Initiation of environmental management and researchinstitutions to tackle ecological
related issues in the oil producing communities. Engage in periodic impact assessment of the
environment and Public awareness and education on the implication/danger in tampering a high
pressurize pipeline.
CONCLUSION
Fromthe above Literature reviewof thisresearch work, oil pipeline isthe easiest andaffordableform
of transportingcrude oil,there isno doubtthat ithas benefittedthe NigeriaGovernmentandpeople
ingeneral butthe pollutioncausedbythe failure of thesepipeline hascausedmassive/unprecedented
relocationof ancestral home of the inhabitantof thisregiondue to the destructionof theirsource of
livelihood.
There are manymore factors challengingthe oil and gas sector whichgoes beyondthe scope of this
research. It is my belief that this piece of discovery will attract interest of industrialist, oil and gas
professionals, renowned publisher for further review and research. However, methodology and
statistical data’s collected are described in subsequent chapters.

11. CHAPTER 3:
Research methodology
The destructionof oil pipeline andeventuallythe frequentspillage occurring inthe NigerDeltahas
be a commonphenomenoninthe NigerDelta forsome yearsnow,andhas haddisastrous and
economicimpactonthe environmentandsource of livingof the people.The NigerDeltaregion
consistof ecosystemsof mangrove swamps,freshwaterswampetc.,andisthe largestwetlandin
Africanandamong the richestinAfricabut due to oil pollutioncausedbypipelinefailuresthe
environmentisanecological destroyedlandinthe world.Thisresearchworkisprimarilytoidentify
the root cause and challengesconfrontingthe petroleumpipeline inthe region,make necessary
recommendationbasedonthe findings.The followingsoutline the strategiesandmethodstakento
identifythe problemsof the oil pipelineandthe directimpactto the standardof livingof the locals
inthe region.Anifowose,B.(2008). Assessingthe Impactof Oil & Gas Transport on Nigeria’s
Environment.U21 Postgraduate ResearchConferenceProceedings1,Universityof BirminghamUK.
Research Strategies
The Primary Research Method.
In conductinga researchof thisnature,I usedtwodifferentmethodsincollectingvaliddatainorder
to make an effectiverecommendationtocorrectthe failuresof oil pipeline experiencedinthe Niger
Deltaregion,andone of the methodsinclude Primaryresearchmethod. Thisissimplythe collection
of raw data from the environmentwhere the failurestookplace throughthe informationsuppliedin
my interviewwithanoil andgas professional whooperatesinthe oil fieldtogetherwithamarket
womanwhobear the painand lowyieldof agricultural andfishingproductsdue tothe pollutedand
contaminatedriverandfarmland.Questionnaire wasextensivelyused andgroupdiscussion
mechanismtosample theirdifferentopinion. SPSSprogramwasusedtoanalysedmyquantitative
data because iseasilyanditgivesaccurate resultandmy qualitative datacodedtoreflectthe
interviewsIhadwithmy respondent.

12. The Secondary Research Method.
Thisstudygenerallydependedonsecondaryresearchmethodtoobtain amore credible,realistand
comprehensive resultsbyobtainingpastandpresentdatainpreviousstudiesrelatingtopipeline
failures.The use of the internet,governmentagencypublicationsandnon-governmentalbodies
togetherwithexistingliteraturetocorrelate myfindingsonpipeline failureinthe NigerDelta.
Furthermore,the extensive use of oil andgas journals,publishedinformationandyettobe publish
articles,international organisational releaseddocumentaryaboutthe the NigerDelta oil spillage,
pipelinefailure casesandnational conferencesreport.All these data’swhere collectedand
descriptivelyanalysedtogainalogical conclusionandabetterunderstandingof the problembeing
facedby the localsinthe oil rich regionof Nigeria. (TwumasiandMerem, 2006; Uyigue and Agho,
2007; Uyigue andOgbeibu,2007).
Research Approach.
In researchapproach,I employedtwomajortypesof researchapproach.Whensecondaryresearch
methodi.e.(the use of journals,books,literature of pastresearchandmanymore) isbeingused,the
bestresearch approachis the deductive researchapproach.Thisisusuallythe bestbecauseof time
factor and otherothermiscellaneousthatmaycome up withrespecttolife spamof thisresearch
Project.Withthe use of Industrial journalsandotherstatistical datareleasedbygovernmentand
private NGO’sitprovidedacomprehensive knowledgeaboutthe researchtopic. Withthe deductive
research approach, concludedlogically the possible cause of oil pipelinefailure inthe NigerDelta.
Then,the othermethodI usedwasinductive method.Byinterviewingindustrial expert,collection
and analysingquestionnaire,takingintoaccountof contributionfrommydiscussiongroupI
compareditto my hypothetical questions thatinfermyendresultandlikelyoutcome whenthe
cause of the oil pipeline failure persist. (saidDr.SylviaWassertheil-Smoller,aresearcherand
professoremeritaatAlbertEinsteinCollegeof Medicine.)
Sampling framework.
One of the majorpurpose of sample surveyisthatit sayswhothe subjectisandgivesa dependable,
reliable answers. Thisresearchworkwill be consideringtwodistinctsubjectsbecauseof their
importantto the research, anindustrialistinthe oil andgas industryanda marketwomanwho isat
the receivingendof oil pipeline failure inthe region.Samplingthe opinionof these twoindividual to

13. gainan understandingtohelpprove my hypothesis.So,stratifiedrandomsamplingisusedhere. This
meansdividingthe populationintotwostrata,professional andnon-professional categoriesand
makinga randomselectionof one eachto informmydecision.
Ethics and Bias.
More care was takentoavoidbiassentimentandarouse unnecessarytensiontowardsmy
respondentinthe cause of thiswork.I attestthat all of my questionnaire respondentwere kept
anonymousandthe detailswere highlysecuredtothe highestacknowledgedstandard.The taskwas
not difficultandcumbersome,sensitive issuespertainingmyrespondentwasnotdiscussed,choices
of words wascarefullyselectedandwas pre-informedbeforereleasing myquestionnaire tothem,
thisI affirm.
Limitation
Time factor hasalwaysbeenthe biggestchallenge andlimitationconfrontingthisresearchworkand
data collection,processingandeventuallyanalysingitforfurtherreferences.Secondly,my
questionnairesare notpromptlyattendedto,togetherwiththe difficultyingettingmyresource
personstomake theirprofessionalinputandthe presentmarketprice fluctuationrecount.Mostof
resourceshasbeingthroughthe school libraryandsocial group and media.
Conclusion
Oil pipeline failure causes pollution of the environment with a significant negative effects; some of
these effect can be reduced, preventedbetter still properlymanaged. Some of the method I intend
using to identify possible solutions include primary and secondary method of gathering valid
information together with the use of stratifiedrandom sampling approach to test the workability,
well-structuredquestionnaire and resource individuals to assist in getting a good result. Although,
there were limitationexperiencedinthe course ofcollectingdataandanalysingthem.Hopefullythese
shall be taking care of in the next chapter