Slippery Security: National, International and Global Security Issues within Petroleum Production

Since the mid-1980’s, the issue of security has become a significant point of contention for the petroleum industry in Nigeria. The environmental, economic, political and social deprivation the industry created within the oil-producing regions of Nigeria threatened not only the security of the communities of the Niger Delta, but the State’s and the industry’s stability as well. Mass community protests against multinationals began with the Ogharefe women’s protest in 1984 against US Pan Ocean. Increasingly since this protest, the Nigerian State and multinational oil corporations’ actions have been to secure oil production through military means in an effort to protect national and international security. However, their actions further threatened the security of the Delta communities and the future of the industry. As violence intensified, an international debate developed around the petroleum industry, which questions the security interests of the State, the corporations and the western sphere of influence over the production of oil. This paper seeks to identify the growing security concerns in the Niger Delta and provide insight as to how and why the breeches in national, international and global security continue to proliferate within the global production of oil.