31 International Journal of Applied Sciences: Current and Future Research Trends ( IJASCFRT ) ISSN (Print) , ISSN (Online) © International Scientific Research and Researchers Association https://ijascfrtjournal.isrra.org/index.php/Applied_Sciences_Journal History, Adverse Effect and Clean Up Strategies of Oil Spillage Abdulhalim Musa Abubakar a* , Musa Alhassan b a Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Modibbo Adama University (MAU), P.M.B 2076, Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria b Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), P.M.B 1069, Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria a Email: abdulhalim@mautech.edu.ng b Email: musaalhassan@ymail.com Abstract Over 178 billion liters of oil had been lost to the environment over the past 120 years, majorly as a result of improper handling, sabotage and accidents. Estimated cost of this lost is 81 billion US dollars. From the highest, locations most impacted by the spills are Kuwait, United States, Persian Gulf, Mexico and Nigeria. The effect is felt as a whole by living organisms (birds, livestock, plants, soil micro-organisms, fish, intertidal fauna, dwarf seahorse, humans etc) and their habitats. This paper investigates, clean up techniques like boom, skimmers, berms, dispersants, in-situ burning, sorbents, bioremediation and high-pressure hosing, noting that none of these is effective and search has to continue towards finding a more effective clean up approach. It can be concluded that the best way to tackle the menace of oil spillage is prevention. Keywords: Oil spill; Clean up; Oil recovery; Oil Tankers; List of oil spills. 1. Introduction Oil is one of the main drivers for the growth of modern economies because of its multifaceted use in transport, energy and manufacturing [1]. Levine (2002) estimated that 3.65 billion gallons of oil per day is consumed worldwide. Contaminated soils often occur as a result of leaking underground storage tanks, vandalization of pipeline, leakage of surface storage tanks, indiscriminate disposal of oil on the grounds on/off loading of the oil in various refineries/processing plants and depots [2,3]. Natural oil spills can occur through petroleum seep, which occurs due to activity inside the earth causing the escape of liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons to the earth’s surface [4]. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ * Corresponding author.