Oil spill awareness has become more central to the thinking of the oil industry and regulators in the last decades. The environmental risks and challenges posed by this hazardous effluent, has increased the desire for more efficient response, mitigation and recovery techniques. The paper provides an overview of the ecological concepts, technical management approaches and technological improvement processes as functional tools in the oil spill contingency plan, risk assessment, bio-remediation, waste disposal, materials and equipment applications. The major aim is to enhance and empower all the stakeholders involved with requisite knowledge of oil spill incidents, environmental crises, prevention and control measures. Oil spill response in West African shoreline, was taken as a case study in comparison with a few case histories of other parts of the world.