The Role of Petroleum exploration and production on Environmental and Social issues

Crude oil exploitation has had and continues to have a deleterious impact on the environment in the region adversely impacting on the people inhabiting the area ever since its discovery in the 1970s. This review paper dwells much on the analysis of secondary source data such as gray literature, journals and primary data (field reports) on the environmental and social impacts of oil exploration and production. The review shows that much of the oil spills occurring in the study area has limited/ to none reporting making it hard for quantification of the oil spills/lost, the pollution levels on land, water bodies and biodiversity are alarming. Here we also show that as much as oil is the desired product, during the production stage, a good amount of gas and produce water is produced as by-products in the due caused. The oil industry in this region has contributed immensely to the economic growth and development of the country in the recent past which is a fact that cannot be ruled out as the country heavily dependent upon but unsustainable exploration and production activities have severely threatened the ecosystem wellbeing of the region. It presents existing data and research on the global distribution of the impacts of oil production and consumption. Also, the review describes and analyzes the environmental, social, and health impacts of oil extraction, transport, refining, and consumption, with a particular focus on the distribution of these burdens among socioeconomic, and ecosystems. An environmental justice framework is used to analyze the processes influencing the distribution of harmful effects from oil production and use. A critical evaluation of current research and recommendations for future data collection and analysis on procedural impacts of oil production and consumption conclude the review. Available online at https://int-scientific-journals.comAvailable online at https://int-scientific-journals.co