by Larissa Brito de Senna
Niger Delta is equivalent to 853 km of coastline shared with the Mud Coast, the Barrier-Lagoon Complex, the Arcuate Niger Delta, and the Strand Coast. The British-Dutch multinational oil and gas corporation found crude oil in a village near the Niger Delta in 1956 and after exploring the area and settling by the river, Shell began commercializing oil from the area in 1958.
This event only opened doors for several other multi-corporations to start exploring the country, as a whole new instrument of enrichment and profitable production at low costs. Nowadays, Nigeria is largest oil producer in Africa, being the sixth biggest producer in the world and the first country in the list of the most powerful nation when it comes to potential in oil and gas producer. From the initial 5,100 barrels per day during the oil discovery in 1956, this number absurdly increased to 2.5 million barrels per day.