Crude oil and its products have fueled economic and industrial revolutions around the world since the 1960s, but these benefits have come with a significant environmental pollution from exploration activities. Although several studies have addressed these impacts, little is known about global research trends. This study aims to provide a comprehensive bibliometric analysis (1960–2024) of crude oil exploration and environmental pollution studies, focusing on research patterns, leading journals, evolution of keywords, and top authors and affiliations. Data retrieved from PubMed® were analysed using Microsoft Excel 2013 and VOSviewer (v1.65), with records systematically screened for relevance and categorised by study type. Research output rose from one publication in 1970–1979 to 641 between 2020–2025. Most outputs were original articles (921; 81.9%), followed by reviews (171; 15.2%), with smaller counts for reports and perspectives. The most active journals were Marine Pollution Bulletin (88 papers), Huan Jing Ke Xue (81), and Science of the Total Environment (68). Across 5,703 contributing authors, Kenneth Lee (12 papers) and Baiyu Zhang (10) were the most prolific authors. We identified 4,417 keywords, from which 318 occurred at least five times, with petroleum, hydrocarbons, and environmental monitoring being among the top three. Evaluations of affiliations showed the dominance of China. These findings highlight the under-representation of systematic reviews and limited institutional contributions from major oil-producing nations, including Nigeria, Venezuela, and Saudi Arabia.
