Sudan aims to be top oil exporter as production beats expectations
Tomorrow the world
Upstream, May 11
Sudan is aiming for world domination of the oil export market after a senior official revealed the country's oil output is beating expections - reaching the 220,000 barrels per day barrier, despite the country being ravaged by civil war and bearing the brunt of US sanctions.
"Our goal is to be the biggest oil exporter in the world," said Energy and Mining Minister Awad Ahmed Al-Jaz Minister, who added that the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company (GNPOC) - a consortium of Canadian, Chinese, Malaysian and Sudanese companies - has had a "100% success" with the wells in its concession, the first to come on line.
The concession is the first of five leased by the government and more are likely to be leased in the future, said Al-Jaz. He added that it was hoped wells in another two of the five concessions will be on stream by early next year, boosting Sudan's daily output to 400,000 bpd.
GNPOC began producing oil from the 12.2 million-acre concession near Bentiu, 750 kilometers south-west of Khartoum, in August 1999. It is pumping oil from some 100 wells and expects another 30 to go on line within the next six to 12 months.
The consortium is made up of China National Petroleum Corporation (40%), Malaysia's Petronas (30%), Canada's Talisman Energy (25%) and the Sudanese state-owned company Sudapet (5%).
The Swedish group Lundin, Austria's OMV, Petronas and Sudapet operate a joint venture in the second concession and have already drilled two exploratory wells.
The Chinese petroleum company has a 90% share in the third concession, with Sudapet holding the remaining 10%. TotalFinaElf holds the fourth concession, and a Chinese-Qatari joint venture holds the fifth.
The country has been in the throes of civil war for 18 years and has been the target of US santions since 1997. There has also been virtually no international development aid.
Sudan is the biggest country in Africa, yet one of the world's least-developed. Barring new oil revenues, the UN calculated Sudan's annual per capita GDP at $290. |
