Email
Print
Save
December 30, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese oil minister Awad al-Jaz announced today that his country’s production of oil has reached 140,000 barrels per day (bpd) and expressed optimism that this figure could be boosted further through new discoveries.
- Sudanese Oil Minister Awad Ahmad al-Jaz (ASHRAF SHAZLY/AFP/Getty Images)
"Our current production is between 136,000 and 140,000," al-Jaz told reporters before saying that 10,000 more barrels would be added to following the inauguration of a new oil field named Hadida this week that lies on the borders between the state of East Darfur and South Kordofan.
Earlier this year Sudan said that its oil production will reach 180,000 by the end of 2012 but later officials acknowledged that this target will not be met.
Sudan’s economy has been dealt a major blow as a result of the south’s secession last year. South Sudan contained three quarters of the oil wealth that existed before Sudan’s breakup.
The loss of oil revenues and decline in foreign currency reserves led to sharp weakening of local currency against the dollar making imports of basic commodities more expensive leading the inflation rate to skyrocket.
Last September Sudan and landlocked South Sudan signed a deal stating the fee Juba has to pay to route its crude through northern pipelines ending a row that led to the shutdown of the entire southern output of 350,000 barrels a day in January.
But the implementation has been put on hold due to Khartoum’s insistence on finalizing security arrangements on the borders before oil transportation can be resumed.
The Sudanese oil minister reiterated this position saying that South Sudan’s oil exports could resume once both sides reach an agreement on border security. "There is no problem," he said, when asked whether from a technical point of view exports could flow.
Jaz said Sudan wanted to boost oil co-operation with Brazilian firms, especially to explore for oil and gas in the Red Sea. Norway is helping Sudan improve its pumping recovery rate, but according to Reuters analysts are skeptical about any big output jump soon because new fields need first to be explored. A scarcity of the dollars is hampering efforts to bring in better equipment.
Last July, Sudan signed oil exploration and production-sharing deals with Canadian company Statesman Resources Ltd as well as with Chinese, Nigerian, Australian, Brazilian and French companies.
Currently it is mainly Chinese, Malaysian and Indian firms operate in Sudan oil industry.
(ST)
Latest Comments & Analysis
The Invasion of Abyei: two years of more agony 2013-05-20 05:39:13 By Luka Biong Deng May 19, 2013 - On 21st May 2013, the people of Abyei have spent two years of more agony and they will remember again the sad memories of how their lives and livelihoods were (...)
The better approach to reconciliation 2013-05-17 06:07:06 By Zechariah Manyok Biar May 16, 2013 - Some of you who might have read my previous articles know that I promised some weeks ago to write separately on the topic of peace and reconciliation that (...)
OIL: is it a curse or a blessing in South Sudan? 2013-05-17 06:04:54 By Jacob K. Lupai May 16, 2013 - In the late 70s when for the first time oil was discovered in Southern Sudan there was euphoria that poverty would be a thing of the past, replaced by a high (...)
MORE