Malaysian, Swedish, Austrian firms sign oil deal in Sudan
KHARTOUM, May 3 (AFP) -- The Sudanese government has signed a deal with
firms from Malaysia, Austria and Sweden to explore for oil in southern Sudan, near
where a consortium they form struck oil earlier this year, the SUNA news agency said
Thursday.
The agreement was signed here late Wednesday by top executives of OMV of
Austria, Lundin of Sweden, Petronas of Malaysia and state-run Sudapet of Sudan, the
state-run news agency said.
The firms will work in a concession of 20,000 square kilometers (8,000 square miles)
in Unity State's Block 5B.
The concession is an extension of Block 5A, an area further north where the same
consortium announced in March it had struck a well that is flowing at more than 4,000
barrels of oil per day (bpd).
Petronas holds 41 percent of the consortium, while Lundin and OMV have 24.5
percent each and Sudapet has 10 percent.
Energy and Mining Ministry Secretary General Hassan Mohammed Ali al-Toam,
meanwhile, announced that Sudan would start producing 380-400 tonnes of jet fuel
per day at Jaily refinery, 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of here.
With domestic jet fuel consumption at around 300 tonnes a day, Toam added, up to
100 tonnes could be exported to airports in neighboring countries.
In August 1999, Sudan begun exporting crude from the Higleig fields where the
CNPC, Talisman of Canada, Petronas and Sudapet are operating in a joint venture. Oil
is now flowing at around 200,000 bpd.
But oil companies operating here have come under sharp scrutiny by Christian,
human rights and other groups who allege that the Sudanese government is using oil
revenues to fund its war against rebels in the south.
Government forces are also alleged to have burned down villages in a policy to drive
inhabitants from oil producing areas.
But Lundin, in a press release posted on its website in the past month, refuted the
allegations after carrying out its own investigation.
"We can now state categorically that there has been no forced population
displacement along the 80 km (48 mile) all-weather road which runs from our base
camp at Rubkona to the present drill site at Jarayan, no burning villages to make way
for the road," it said. |
