Sudan Signs New Oil Exploration Deal
KHARTOUM, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Sudan has signed an oil exploration agreement with several local and international companies for an area in central Sudan, the government-owned Al-Anbaa newspaper reported on Sunday.
"Sudan has signed a production agreement...covering prospecting, development and transportation of oil with Gulf oil companies, the Chinese National Petroleum Corp, Al Than and Sudapet," the daily said.
Al Than and Sudapet are Sudanese firms. The newspaper did not specifiy which Gulf companies were involved.
Al-Anbaa said the agreement covered a 75-square-km area on the western bank of the White Nile, south of the town of Rabak, about 275 km (170 miles) south of Khartoum.
The Gulf companies hold a 46 percent stake in the investment, the Chinese company has 23 percent, Al Than also has 23 percent and Sudapet holds eight percent. The newspaper gave no other details about the terms of the contract.
Sudan, which produces about 185,000 barrels per day of crude oil, began crude exports in August 1999. It had previously been importing oil and oil products for about $300 million a year, eating up most of its export earnings.
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New oil-producing consortium founded in Sudan
KHARTOUM, Nov 12 (AFP) - Chinese and Arab oil firms have formed
a joint venture to search for petroleum in southeast Sudan, a
newspaper said here Sunday.
The Chinese National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), Gulf Oil of
Qatar, and a United Arab Emirates firm formed a consortium with
Sudan's state-run Sudapet in a deal signed on Saturday, As-Sahafi
Ad-Dawli daily said.
The consortium will carry out oil operations in a concession
area of 75 square kilometres east of the White Nile in the eastern
parts of Upper Nile state, it said.
It will develop existing oil fields in Adaryel and explore other
fields in the concession area, the paper added.
Gulf Oil will hold 46 percent, CNPC and the UAE company 23
percent each, and Sudapet the remaining eight percent of the shares
of the group, the newspaper said.
The UAE firm was not named in the report.
CNPC already operates with Petronas of Malaysia, Talisman Energy
of Canada and Sudapet in the Higleig oil fields in southwest Sudan.
Sudan became an oil exporting country in late August last year,
delivering mainly to customers in Asia.
Sudanese officials said in May that export capacity was at
around 200,000 barrels per day, putting Sudan far behind such OPEC
countries as Nigeria and Libya, and even smaller exporters like
Egypt.
Sudan has an estimated three billion barrels of reserves, but
700 million barrels of proven, recoverable reserves, they said. |
