Sudan exports 15 mln oil barrels in four months - Reuters
KHARTOUM, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Sudan has exported 15 million barrels of oil in the past four months, the government-owned al-Anbaa newspaper on Tuesday quoted director general at the Energy and Mining Ministry as saying.
Hassan Eltom was quoted as saying that 15 million barrels of crude oil had been shipped abroad in 20 oil tankers, up to December 31.
Sudan began to export crude oil in August from its 1,600-km (1,000-mile) 28-inch pipeline in southern Sudan to the Red Sea.
The pipeline, with a capacity of 250,000 barrels per day (bpd), was built by the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company and a consortium including Canadian oil company Talisman (Toronto:TLM.TO - news) and the state oil firms of China, Malaysia and Sudan.
Eltom is also quoted in al-Usbua newspaper as saying that one million tonnes of crude oil were refined at El-Obeid refinery, about 350 km (220 miles) southwest of Khartoum, in the second half of last year.
He said demand for Sudan's crude oil is increasing and production had reached 150,000 bpd, with plans to raise production to 180,000 bpd.
The Khartoum refinery, which is expected to produce 2.5 million tonnes of oil a year, is due to start production on an experimental basis next month, he said.
Sudan, riven by civil war, was importing up to $360 million worth of oil annually before it began to exploit oil resources in 1997.
In September, Khartoum accused Sudanese rebel forces, who have long contended that the Islamist government planned to use profits from oil exports to buy weapons and step up the 16-year old civil war, of causing an explosion that hit its new oil pipeline in southern Sudan.
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