Page:Niger Delta Ecosystems- the ERA Handbook, 1998.djvu/156

The Resources of the Niger Delta: Minerals

The major market for Nigerian oil is the United States, taking about 40%, followed by Spain (12-15%), South Korea, India and France, and to a lesser extent Japan, China, Taiwan, the Philippines and Thailand.

Although the Nigerian National Oil Company (NNPC) controls between 55 and 60% of all the major oil production companies in Nigeria, the companies are actually are operated by foreign oil companies. The industry is dominated by six companies, as follows.

Other producers include Ashland Oil, Deminex Oil, Pan Ocean Oil, British Gas, Sun Oil, Conoco, British Petroleum, Statoil, Conoil and Dubri Oil.

14.6 NATURAL GAS

14.6.1 NATURAL GAS IN THE NIGER DELTA

After oil the most important mineral found in the Niger Delta is gas.

Natural gas is created either as Biogenic gas or as Thermogenic gas. Biogenic gas arises from the bacterial decay of once living matter (for instance, marsh gas), whilst thermogenic gas arises from the excessive heating of already decayed material including oil. This heating definitely occurs at the depths at which oil is formed, there being no doubt that much of the gas associated with oil is formed by thermogenic processes ('cracking' as described above in sub-section 3.2). Nonetheless, the major 154