Abstract
Objective: The study documents the effects of hydrocarbon exploitation (without major oil spills) on soils of a rural community, 5 Km from an E &P(exploration & production) site. Method/Statistical analysis: By 3 composite drill cuttings, 6 agricultural soil samples obtained from Oben oil field or oil mining lease 4 (OML 4) and Oben village, Nigeria were microbiologically examined. Water and crude oil samples were subjected to physical, chemical, and microbiological examinations. Pearson and Rosenberg model (1978) was used to describe changes in species richness and abundance from 2018– 2008. The 2008 environmental impact assessment report (EIA) was the environmental baseline. Finding: Significant changes in microbe diversity and population was noticed from 2008 to 2018 although no oil spills occurred. Total heterotrophic bacterial count (TBC) revealed greater diversity in 2008 than in 2018. The average TBC for soil samples from rural community and E&P site were 7.00.30 x 106 cfu/g, and 2.23 0.15102 cfu/g, respectively, in contrast to 6.60 x 10 9 cfu/g in 2008. Percentages of hydrocarbon utilizing microbes increased; indicative of a more favorable environment. Chi-square test (chi-square critical value = 9.49 & p-value= 0.05) used to compare observed population data with the expected; showed changes were not random chance but due to E &P activities. The prevailing regulatory approach was incapable of capturing fundamental issues of contemporary continuous, routine release of contaminants. Need to understand the subtle and pernicious effect of E&P operations on neighboring communities. Environmental laws should be reexamined. Applications: Microbes can be used to monitor minute, chronic release of hydrocarbon, inexpensively. They are “markers” in environmental changes even before major pollution, contamination, spillage or devastation occurs. Keywords: Acute contaminants on soils; contamination in nearby communities; oil field’s contaminants; contamination by proximity; chronic pollutants
Highlights
Microbes have been in existence for billions of years
It was proposed that environments in close proximity to oil drilling and production sites are negatively impacted and as a consequence, diversity of microbes in these places changes with time as petroleum activities take place proximate to them
In 2008, an environmental impact assessment report (EIA) was conducted in oil mining lease 4 (OML 4) and neighbouring village
Summary
Microbes have been in existence for billions of years Their presence tells us much about the surrounding They assist in degradation of pollutants and influence remediation of contaminated soils through complex metal-substrate-microbe interactions[1].Their metabolic activities produce substances that can be used to map their existence and condition of the environment [2,3,4]. Their abundance and diversity are indicative of quality of environment; the more favorable the environment, the greater their population, (i.e. population density)(5–9). When condition changes, species of microbes, and their population densities change; this knowledge can be used to know minute changes in any site[10,11,12]
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