Port Harcourt: the oil of the Niger Delta

Principal petroleum center of Nigeria, Port Harcourt remains the economic heart of the Niger Delta energy industry.

The center, petroleum heart of the Niger Delta, is visited comfortably by shared taxi.

The Botanical Garden of Port Harcourt, among Nigeria's oldest, preserves tropical plants native to the Niger Delta on a green area in the heart of the city.

A few minutes away, the river port, one of Nigeria's busiest, drives maritime commerce linked to the region's petroleum industry.

Continuing along the delta rivers, one observes traditional Ijaw fishing communities, who still live today along the region's waterways.

Toward evening, Port Harcourt's markets animate with the bustling trade of fresh fish and tropical products from the delta region, among the liveliest in southeastern Nigeria.

Port Harcourt, founded by the British in 1912 as a coal export port, subsequently became the primary center of Nigeria's petroleum industry after crude oil discoveries in the nineteen-fifties in the surrounding region.

The Niger Delta, among the world's largest, hosts extraordinary biodiversity of mangroves and aquatic species, despite environmental challenges linked to oil extraction in the region over recent decades.