Globalization, Petroluem Industry and Sustainable Development: The Implication for Nigeria

Abstract

International trade in petroleum products has expanded significantly over the past decades through globalization such that the price of crude oil is measured or represented at the global price level. As the international trade in petroleum products keep increasing, there is also corresponding increase in activities in the petroleum industry to meet the requirement of the ever increasing demand for petroleum products. Globalization raises serious sustainability issues particularly in most developing countries where exploration and production are undertaken. This article is mainly concerned with globalisation and the sustainability issues which exploration and production of oil and gas raise in Nigeria as exporter of crude oil. This article raises some fundamental question such as: can the environment and the ecosystem in developing countries like Nigeria stand the ever increasing demand for petroleum products as a direct consequence of globalization? Can the present oil and gas environmental regime achieve sustainable oil and gas exploration and production in Nigeria? Will the transnational oil companies operating in Nigeria that are more interested in return on investment and increased shareholders dividends adopt significant reforms under the present legal regime that will ensure sustainable oil and gas exploration and production? What does the future hold for generations unborn in the face of globalisation and unsustainable pattern of oil and gas exploration and production in Nigeria?