Page:Niger Delta Ecosystems- the ERA Handbook, 1998.djvu/181

Environmental Impact of the Oil Industry 15.5.2 DRILLING

Interfaces of drilling activities and the environment (from an SPDC handbook of 1993):

There are eight main specific impacts of drilling.

In the SPDC Eastern Region alone, 1,279 wells had been drilled by 1992 (of which 526 became producing wells). Whilst the areas covered by drilling sites are insignificant the ecological footprint caused by the drilling activity covers a much wider area as the above table suggests. 179