New pipeline puts Sudanese oil output into higher gear

Daily Star ^ | Wednesday, April 12, 2006 | By Agence France Presse

[Lessismore]

KHARTOUM: Sudan's oil output was due to rise to 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) after a pipeline was opened pumping crude from the southern Upper Nile region to the Red Sea, an oil official said Tuesday.

The 1,400-kilometer pipeline - inaugurated Monday - will allow oil wells to start operating in the southern Melut Basin from which the crude will be pumped to Al-Salam port on the Red Sea, the official told AFP on condition of anonymity. Sudan's production stood at more than 300,000 bpd and is now expected to rise above the 500,000 bpd mark, making Africa's largest country one of the continent's oil heavyweights behind Libya, Nigeria and Angola.

The launch ceremony for the pipeline - initially due to have taken place last summer - was held in the town of Fulouj and attended by Energy and Mining Minister Awad al-Jaz, as well as several South Sudanese officials.

Sudan's North and South signed a peace agreement in January 2005, ending 21 years of war fueled by resentment over the Northern Khartoum-based government's exploitation of oil resources, which are mainly in the South. A wealth-sharing agreement was among the hardest to reach during the negotiations for the comprehensive peace deal and sharp differences remain between Khartoum and the semi-autonomous Southern government.

The new pipeline is run by the Petrodar conglomerate, three-quarters of whose shares are owned by the two oil giants operating in Sudan: Malaysia's Petronas and China's CNPC. The rest of the shares are split between Sudan's Sudapet, Dubai's Gulf Petroleum and Al-Thani, and Sinopec, China's other state-owned giant.

China, the world's second largest energy consumer market after the United States, has its largest overseas oil production operation in Sudan and is eyeing more deals as the war-torn country's oil sector picks up.

Some Sudanese oil officials have said in recent weeks that they hope to further hike total output to 650,000 bpd by the end of the year and have announced a target of more than 1.1 million bpd by 2010.

The government of South Sudan, which under the north-south peace deal is supposed to receive a 50-percent share of the country's oil revenues, is expected to rake in 1.3 billion dollars in 2006. -

[BookaT]

Thank God! Now the price of fuel will come down too! right? /sarcasm

[marron]

Genocide for oil, anyone?

[marron]

The government of South Sudan, which under the north-south peace deal is supposed to receive a 50-percent share of the country's oil revenues, is expected to rake in 1.3 billion dollars in 2006. -

My smart-aleck comments aside, this is something I didn't expect to see. Its a little too good to believe.

[lonestar67]

This cannot be right.

Anti-war people tell me the U.S. invades countries for oil and that this is why we don't attack Sudan.

it looks like China is making a killing in oil.

[joesnuffy]

The Chinese are all too happy to deal with the Muzzies murdering, raping, making sex slaves out of young Christian children and often times torture murdering them and their parents...

The Chi coms have about as much respect for Christians as the muzzies do...they should be great trading partners....

imo

*FRee McGee* Please?

[RightWhale]

a target of more than 1.1 million bpd by 2010

Strange how oil attracts belligerent people.

[demkicker]

I wanna know what ever happened to the guy here in the U.S. who told us years ago that he could convert practically anything into oil through his invention of a sophisticated recycling process.

At the time, I thought that maybe his life would soon be in danger, like in a thrilling Clancy novel. But I sure do wonder about that guy every now and then when the price of oil gets to ridiculous proportions.

[BwanaNdege]

I flew a bit for Chevron when they were looking for oil in the Sud (southern Sudan) back in 1981. I was told that Chevron had sunk 4 Billion US Dollars into the venture. They had to fly in gravel to make concrete footings for the drill rigs...by helicopter.

They needed a base camp but the only high & dry ground (about 2 feet above the swamps either side of the White Nile) was the local village. So, Chevron built a camp on barges and had it towed up river from Khartoum, rather than evict the village.

Chevron also realized that by hiring the young men of the tribe as roughneck laborers they had turned the power structure of the tribe upside down. The elders were beginning to loose authority. (Yes, this is a BAD thing...trust me.) So Chevron had hired an anthropology professor to see what could be done to prevent destroying the tribal social structure. Good idea!

Soon after that the civil war cranked up and Chevron pulled out. I assume they lost all that investment. Remember that next time someone condemns "windfall oil profits". And no, I did not work for Chevron or any oil company. I was temporarily filling in for a helicopter pilot who needed a rest. I needed money for school fees for my kids. Good deal - I earned enough in two weeks to pay my daughters school fees for the year!