Crude oil bunkering: Technology for adoption and diffusion

Abstract

The discovery of crude oil in commercial quantity in 1956 in the Niger Delta of Nigeria, has made the region the economic backbone of the country, but  the activities of oil exploration has rather impoverished the region through environmental degradation, lack of corporate social responsibility and government insensitivity. Consequently, the people have developed a local technology to tap into their natural endowment and refine same to create a  livelihood for themselves. The major objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of adopting local technology in crude oil refining and scaling it  up as local technology in the country. Case-study and interview were adopted to carry out this investigation. The study revealed the style applied to be  simple distillation, and confirmed that it could be adopted, harnessed and sustained. The study recommends that a standard monitoring board should be  established to ensure environmental best practices in the trade. Crude oil should be sold to operators of local refineries, instead of hot-tapping.  Nigeria scientist should be involved to fabricate modernized distilleries and other instruments for local refineries to produce the volume needed to  sustain the country’s demands.