Sudan invites foreign firms to invest in its oil
By William Emmanuel
PARIS, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Sudan's Energy Minister Awad Eljaz has said Khartoum was keen to encourage foreign oil companies, including U.S. ones, to invest in the development of the country's oil fields.
The invitation came late on Monday as the country announced it had exported oil -- 100,000 barrels -- for the first time on Auguest 30.
Eljaz told reporters Sudan was ``self-sufficient' in oil, which enabled it to keep its energy bill down and free up funds to develop other sectors of the economy, particularly farming.
Foreign currency income derived from oil exports would be used to finance new road, rail and telecoms infrastructures, Eljaz said.
The minister said the privatisation of state telecoms firm Sudatel would produce profits. But to fund this and other projects, the country first needed to invest in its oil sector.
The construction of a pipeline linking the oil field in the southwest to Port Sudan, and investments in both field and port had already cost $2.3 billion, Eljaz said.
``There are indications (of oil) in each of Sudan's 26 states. These reserves could be large. The government has decided to exploit them,' he said.
He said, however, that it was ``premature' to put a precise figure on the country's reserves but said only 10 percent of the field where the first 100,000 barrels of oil exports had come from was being exploited. ``We are open to everyone who wants to invest in our country,' he said.
Asked whether U.S. companies were welcome while Sudan was still on Washington's blacklist of states it considers to be sponsors of terrorism, Eljaz said: ``These companies left Sudan because of problems with their administration, not with us. All companies are welcome but they must respect our sovereignty and our laws.'
The minister said he hoped TotalFina would ``extend its presence' in Sudan. The Franco-Belgian giant has been in the country since 1980 with a licence to operate in a 120,000 square kilometre field in the southeast.
Industry sources said TotalFina and other oil companies were about to request new permits.
Eljaz said the government had tried to encourage the development of the country, which is locked in a conflict between the Islamic state in Khartoum and the animist and Christian groups of the south.
He said the government had approved the setting up of a federal system coordinated by the central administration, saying the proposal offered ``just, practical solutions.'
``A large percent of the populaiton of southern Sudan supports this solution,' he declared.
Non-governmental organisations regularly criticise Khartoum's policy towards the south. Washington recently said it was naming a special representative, Harry Johnston, to examine what it called Sudan's disastrous human rights record.
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