While the activities of multinational oil corporations contribute significantly to oil pollution and environmental degradation in most oil-producing countries, the extent to which illegal artisanal refineries contribute to the environmental problems in Niger Delta remains unclear. Extant literature attributes this to the expanding activities of the artisans as well as the use of crude technology in illegal oil refining. Given the widespread nature of the artisanal oil-refining economy in the Niger Delta region, we assess its contribution to the growing environmental pollution in the region. By artisanal oil refining, we mean small-scale crude oil processing or subsistent distillation of petroleum that is often outside the boundaries of the state law. This study links the continual failure of the clean-up programme in the Niger Delta to the booming artisanal crude oil-refining economy in the region. Using predominantly qualitative methods of data collection and content analysis, we adopted the enterprise value chain analysis to underscore the underlying local economic interests and external economic opportunities that sustain oil bunkering, oil theft and petro-piracy. We conclude that these illegal refining processes significantly undermine the Ogoniland clean-up project and make the remediation programme unsustainable in Nigeria.

虽然跨国石油公司的活动对大多数产油国的石油污染和环境恶化做出了重大贡献，但非法手工炼油厂对尼日尔三角洲环境问题的影响程度仍不清楚。现存文献将此归因于工匠活动的扩大以及原油技术在非法炼油中的使用。鉴于尼日尔三角洲地区手工炼油经济的广泛性，我们评估了其对该地区日益严重的环境污染的贡献。手工炼油是指通常在州法律范围之外的小规模原油加工或石油持续蒸馏。这项研究将尼日尔三角洲清理计划的持续失败与该地区蓬勃发展的手工原油精炼经济联系起来。我们主要使用数据收集和内容分析的定性方法，采用企业价值链分析来强调维持石油加油、石油盗窃和石油海盗活动的潜在当地经济利益和外部经济机会。我们得出的结论是，这些非法提炼过程严重破坏了奥戈尼兰清理项目，并使修复计划在尼日利亚不可持续。我们采用企业价值链分析来强调潜在的地方经济利益和维持石油加油、石油盗窃和石油海盗活动的外部经济机会。我们得出的结论是，这些非法提炼过程严重破坏了奥戈尼兰清理项目，并使修复计划在尼日利亚不可持续。我们采用企业价值链分析来强调潜在的地方经济利益和维持石油加油、石油盗窃和石油海盗活动的外部经济机会。我们得出的结论是，这些非法提炼过程严重破坏了奥戈尼兰清理项目，并使修复计划在尼日利亚不可持续。