Oil companies are threatening three African deltas
We need to stop them before it’s too late. Learn about the threats to the Niger, Okavango, and Saloum deltas.
Shell Shocked Land
On November 10, 2025, to mark the 30th Anniversary of the murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni 9, Oil Change International produced a new documentary, “Shell Shocked Land,” alongside the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) and Rewild TV.
The fight for environmental justice remains as strong as ever in the Niger Delta and is seen as having Pan-African implications. Last year, oil giant Shell sold its onshore operations in the Niger Delta, a move seen as an attempt to avoid liability and compensation for decades of environmental destruction. So the fight for justice, clean up, compensation and full exoneration for the Ogoni 9 continues.
The Deltas
Climate science is clear that the future of our planet depends on a rapid phase-out of fossil fuels. Yet it’s business as usual for the industry, pushing forward with a vision of “massive oil and gas exploration potential around Africa” that would doom communities and the ecosystems they depend on. For decades, fossil fuels have failed Africa’s development goals with empty promises of jobs, energy access, and profits for Africans. Yet, the threat is growing.
Oil exploration threatens the Okavango River basin and delta in Namibia and Botswana. In Senegal, offshore oil and gas is ramping up, threatening the Saloum Delta. In the Niger Delta, where communities have fought the oil industry for justice for decades, international oil companies are abandoning onshore production to go offshore, leaving a trail of poverty and destruction in their wake.
These three deltas have much in common. They are rich, biodiverse ecosystems that support millions of people and spectacular wildlife. Each of them is threatened by an industry that destroys with impunity. They are worth so much more than the oil and gas industry’s profits. As the world faces the dual crises of climate change and biodiversity loss, it is time to stop oil and gas in Africa’s deltas.
Niger Delta
The Niger Delta, which extends to about 70,000km2 has been synonymous with oil exploitation for the last sixty years. As major international oil companies look to sell their onshore operations and move to lucrative offshore fields, there is an urgent need to make sure they clean up their pollution and pay compensation to affected communities.
Saloum Delta
The Saloum Delta is a RAMSAR site and a UNESCO World Heritage site in Senegal where three rivers flow into the North Atlantic Ocean. The Delta comprises over 200 islands and islets, mangrove forest, an Atlantic marine environment, and dry forest. It is under threat from offshore drilling by BP, Total Energies and Woodside Energy.
Okavango Delta
The Okavango Delta in Botswana is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the largest inland delta in Africa, and a sanctuary for some of Africa’s most iconic wildlife. It is currently under threat from drilling upstream in neighboring Namibia, by the Canadian oil company ReconAfrica.
Fighting Back
African civil society is mobilizing against oil developments. At a meeting in South Africa in August 2024, Oilwatch International and Oilwatch Africa issued a communique noting that “the harms associated with the prevailing energy systems are more costly and damaging to people and communities than the benefits. We note that our governments continue to listen to this plundering industry and not to their peoples.”
The communique added that “We strongly support a new economy for people and planet – a solidary and circular economy that values and centers care work and bodily autonomy; an economy that centers sustainability and abundance of collective life, as opposed to profit and individual gain.”