2010

Global Witness chastised participants of today's high-level meeting on Sudan, held on the sidelines of the UN summit in New York, for failing to adequately address the important issue of oil revenue sharing in spite of the fact that it is critical to maintaining the peace.

The Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) met with Unity State authorities to discuss a number of challenges faced by the state citizens settling in the areas of oil exploration. NPA will focus on environmental issues, employment and capacity building with people most affected by the oil companies.

Southern Sudan, which votes on independence in January, must develop its agricultural and hydroelectric power industries to overcome a “50-year lag in development” as it emerges from civil war, said a top World Bank official. A strengthening East African Community offers Southern Sudan a huge market for future agricultural and electricity exports

South Sudan said the central government had stopped paying its share of oil revenues in foreign currency, creating a foreign exchange crisis in the region ahead of a January vote on independence.

China should, if they want to protect their assets, develop a very strong relationship with the government of Southern Sudan, Anne Itto, deputy secretary-general of the SPLM, said. Most of the oil is pumped in the south, and China is the main destination for exported Sudan crude. China is interested in expanding oil exploration to more blocks, Itto said.

Sudan expects to increase its oil production by up to one-third by next year, taking it to as high as 600,000 barrels per day.

Sudan signed a $30 million deal with small Finnish company Fenno Caledonian to explore Block 10 in the north east of the country.

Sudan hopes to increase oil production by 35 percent in 2011, as European and Arab investors show more interest in exploring for crude in Africa’s biggest country. Energy minister Lual Deng said part of the targeted increase in oil production would come from Block 6 run by China National Petroleum Corp. in the central state of Kordofan.

Sudan said it would publish daily production figures and conduct a full independent audit of the oil industry since 2005, a move analysts said could help prevent future conflict over oil.

Sudapet will begin supplying 100 percent of Ethiopia’s annual benzene consumption as of next month.