Sudan: oil production is set to grow substantially
Gulf News, Sharjah, June 8
By Sunil Rao
Sudan denies oil firms plan to pull out
No oil company engaged in Sudan is planning to pull out, Abdel Raheem Hamdi, Minister of Economy and Finance, said late Wednesday. "I met senior company representatives last Thursday, and no one is withdrawing," he said on the sidelines of the final session on Investment Opportunities and Development of Transport Services in Sudan.
He added that the oil development programme was firing on all cylinders, with several concessions awarded to various consortia, one of which is led by a UAE-based company. The minister was alluding to reports that Canada's Talisman Energy was under pressure from the U.S. and other Western countries to abandon its Sudan oil operations on grounds that oil revenues were fuelling the war against southern rebels.
Jim Buckee, president and CEO of Calgary-based Talisman, is also on record as saying the company intends to stay in Sudan and help raise the oil production rate, as reported in the Sudanese media this week.
"They (Talisman) have done a very good job, they have told me they propose to continue, and any talk of them withdrawing is rubbish," Hamdi said. Oil exploration is continuing smoothly, with four concessions granted to overseas operators in recent months, each with a Sudanese stake. Initial reports on new oil finds are promising, he added.
"Three wells have been spudded, one in each of three concessions, and one well on the 5A concession flowed oil with a pressure equivalent to 4,500 bpd," he said.
Two concessions — blocks 3 and 7, covering 300,000 square kilometres — were awarded to a consortium of operators from the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and China. He declined to give details.
"The 5B and 5A blocks have been awarded to Sweden's Lundin Oil, Austria's OMV, and Malaysia's Petronas. A Chinese operator is working another 90,000-square-kilometre concession neighbouring the original Mujlid block," he said.
He expected efforts to lead to substantially higher output in about four years. The minister acknowledged the oil sector's financial contribution to Sudan's economy was still low, at 40 per cent of the national budget, which in turn made up just 12 per cent of GDP.
"But it is early days as yet, and oil's contribution is set to grow substantially in coming years," he added.
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