Artisanal Crude Oil Refining and Social Dynamics: Implications for Environmental Sustainability

Studies on environmental sustainability in the Niger Delta have drawn considerable attention to the role of artisanal crude oil refining and the adverse effects it has on the environment. However, limited scholarly attention has been paid to the social transformations resulting from this informal economic activity and how it impedes collective action toward sustainability. This study fills this gap by exploring the socio-environmental impacts of artisanal refining—how it reshapes social structures, creates new hierarchies, alters traditional power dynamics, perpetuates pollution, and undermines communal efforts toward environmental protection. Anchored within the Political Ecology framework, the study interrogates how local responses to economic marginalisation and environmental degradation shape the evolution and entrenchment of artisanal refining. The research was conducted in Peremabiri (Southern Ijaw LGA) and Okoroba (Nembe LGA) in Bayelsa State—communities long exposed to artisanal refining. Employing a qualitative historical method within the interpretivist paradigm, the study focused on the period 2001 to 2024. A purposive sampling technique guided the selection of 24 interview participants, including refiners, retailers, community leaders, women, and youths, along with four Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) of 5–10 participants each. Data were collected through oral histories and narratives in local dialects and Pidgin English, and analysed using thematic content analysis. Findings reveal that artisanal refining transforms communities by creating new economic elites and informal networks, that weaken traditional authority and impede collective environmental action. The study concludes that sustainability efforts must engage these informal structures rather than bypass them, recommending livelihood alternatives, local empowerment, and stronger regulatory capacity to balance economic survival with environmental goals.