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Gold/Mining/Energy : TLM.TSE Talisman Energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: VisionsOfSugarplums who wrote (1322)	10/22/2001 8:26:41 AM
From: VisionsOfSugarplums	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1713

Government, oil company officials rebuff Sudanese rebel claims of major fighting, government losses By ANDREW ENGLAND Associated Press Writer NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 22, 2001 (AP) -- Government and oil company officials in Sudan on Monday rebuffed claims by the Sudan People's Liberation Army that the rebels had attacked oil-fields in southern Sudan, causing heavy losses to government forces guarding them. "It's a big lie by the SPLA. It's a compete fabrication. The official spokesman for the army has put out a statement categorically denying all these allegations. Everything is as usual and peaceful in that (oil) area," Abdelrahman Hamza, director of the government spokesman's office, said by telephone from the capital, Khartoum. The SPLA, which is in the midst of an 18-year civil war with the government, said Sunday that its forces had killed 429 government troops in fighting between Oct. 12-20 and had attacked oil production areas, destroying bulldozers and other equipment. Hamza said there was a "very minor skirmish" on Friday morning near Bentiu, an oil town 750 kilometers (465 miles) southwest of Khartoum, but the rebels had been repelled. Hamza gave no other details about Friday's fighting. The Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company - a consortium of Canadian, Chinese, Malaysian and Sudanese companies - began producing oil from a 12.2 million-acre (4.94 million-hectare) concession near Bentiu in August 1999. Ralph Capeling, general manager of Talisman in Khartoum, a Canadian company that has a 25-percent stake in the consortium, said he knew of no recent attacks in oil areas and said production was increasing. "We have been progressively increasing oil production," Capeling told The Associated Press. "We have been moving from 220,000 barrels per day to 230,000 per day. It's going fine; we are having no difficulties with production." The SPLA took up arms in 1983 against the Sudanese government in the predominantly Arab and Muslim north in an attempt to obtain autonomy for the south where most of the people follow traditional African beliefs; about 5 percent are Christian. The rebels and international human rights groups accuse the Sudanese government of forcing tens of thousands of villagers to flee the oil region and of using oil revenue to pursue the war. Since the oil consortium began operations, Sudan has joined the ranks of major oil exporters and is estimated to earn dlrs 500 million per year from oil. The rebels say there can be no cease-fire unless oil production is halted. Michael George Garang, an SPLA spokesman, said Khartoum "always denied" rebel attacks. Attacks on the oil fields and installations would continue until production was "closed down," George said. The group has targeted oil pipelines and equipment in the past. From Sudan.net Regards, t.