Sudan: "Oil companies from Britain, India, Italy, New Zealand and Pakistan are competing for other blocks"
Sudan's Oil Riches Frozen By Civil War
Agence France Presse Intl. (AFM), November 29
ATTENTION - FEATURE /// Sudan's future as a petroleum exporting country is on hold -
despite sitting on an "oil goldmine" - pending a resolution of its 16-year civil war in the south
where most of its oilfields are situated.
Sudan, one of the poorest countries in Africa, started exporting oil in August from the
specially-built Beshair terminal near Port Sudan, and sold its first 600,000 barrel shipment to
Shell.
But less than a month later, an explosion claimed by the armed opposition blew up the pipeline
supplying the port, highlighting the continuing volatility of the situation.
Sudan's two active oilfields currently produce just 160,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil, but
that figure is expected to rise to 250,000 bpd within 18 months, Sudan's Energy Minister
Awad Ahmed Eljaz told AFP.
With domestic consumption at only 65,000 bpd, most of the increases will be bound for
export via the pipeline which is capable of pumping up to 450,000 bpd from the Higleig and
Unity wells in southwest Sudan to the terminal 1,600 kilometres (1,000 miles) away on the
Red Sea coast.
The two fields are being exploited by a consortium grouping China's CNPC, Malaysia's
Petronas, and Talisman of Canada with minimal participation from Sudan's Sudapet oil
company.
But they represent only a small part of the oil riches of a country that holds officially
estimated reserves of more than two billion barrels.
Vast "blocks" of land have been conceded to the Canadian, Chinese and Malaysian
companies as well as Qatar's Gulf Petroleum Company and Total of France which has
120,000 square kilometres around the southern city of Bor.
"Everything suggests that this region is an oil goldmine," a western diplomat said about the
Bor region.
The energy minister added that other oil companies from Britain, India, Italy, New Zealand and
Pakistan are competing for other blocks that have not yet been assigned.
But in Bor, as elsewhere, prospection and drilling have long been suspended by the civil war
between mainly Christian and animist rebels in the south, led by the Sudan People's Liberation
Army (SPLA), and the northern Islamic regime.
"Total came to see us two months ago, wanting assurances that they could work," Eljaz said,
noting that a follow-up committee had been established to study the situation.
He gave assurances that the army-protected oilfields in Higleig and Unity are not suffering
from the situation in the south.
But clashes in the region between rival southern factions at the beginning of November have
left several dozen dead.
And in September the opposition bomb attack damaged a section of the newly-opened export
pipeline north of Khartoum, although it was repaired swiftly.
"The SPLA claims Higleig as a historical part of the south," a western diplomat said, adding
that there can be no peaceful extraction of oil without a solution in the south.
Another attack Saturday destroyed two metres (six feet) of a pipeline carrying imported oil
derivatives from Port Sudan to Khartoum.
Two peace initiatives for Sudan are currently on the table. One, proposed by the east African
Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), involves Khartoum and the SPLA while
another presented earlier this year by Libya and Egypt would involve a broader
representation of the opposition.
The United States, which indirectly supports the SPLA, is actively supporting the
long-standing IGAD initiative and has expressed its opposition to the Egyptian-Libyan plan.
In an interview with AFP, Sudan's Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail accused the United
States of wanting to "hijack" the IGAD peace initiative and "topple" the Sudanese government.
He also charged that Washington is planning to host a conference with Sudanese opposition
groups from the north and south to forge a reconciliation that would oust President Omar
al-Beshir's government from Khartoum. |
