North Sudan oil production to reach 110
The oil production from fields in North Sudan will reach 110,000 barrels per day (bpd) by the end of 2010, an official at the oil ministry said on Sunday.
The remarks come amid raging fears on the impact of the likely South Sudan breakup on the economy of the North. The central bank governor has recently blamed these speculations for the deterioration of the Sudanese pound exchange rate versus the U.S. dollar.
Sudan’s 500,000 barrels per day of crude is mostly located in the south but the oil infrastructure is entirely in the north, whose experts control all aspects of the production. Some southern officials have said oil revenues, which are shared roughly half-half since 2005, will continue to be shared post referendum, but the north and south have yet to reach agreement on what the new sharing arrangements will be.
South Sudan is also mulling using a pipeline that would pump oil produced on its territory through a Kenyan port rather than Port Sudan. The pipeline project is still in the bidding process and will likely take several years to build if approved.
The state minister for the oil Ali Ahmed Osman told the pro-government Al-Rayaam newspaper that the current production levels of oil in the North will suffice should the South opt to secede.
He revealed that there are 50,000 bpd produced in the Greater Nile Project, 60,000 bpd in Al-Foula with 5,000-10,000 bpd expected to be added from Abu-Jabra field. Osman said that overall production in the North is 100,000 bpd at this point.
The official also downplayed reports on the rising production of oil in the disputed Abyei region lying on the North-South borders. He stressed that the North will seek other remedies to make up for the loss in oil revenue from the South including tax and monetary measures in addition to tapping other sources of revenue such as gold mines.
The Muslim north and mostly Christian and animist south agreed in 2005 to hold the referendum as part of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended a 22-year civil war in Sudan, Africa’s largest country.
Registration for the January 9 referendum which could partition Africa’s largest country kicked off on November 15 with an air of celebration in the south and a large turn-out by local residents.
The South has accused the North this week, of seeking to intimidate the Southern voters in the capital so that they register and vote for unity. The North also alleged that the ex-Southern rebel group is leading a campaign that seeks to have Southerners in the North to abstain from registering or head South for that purpose.
If this situation is not rectified by the referendum commission, the ruling National Congress Party said it will not recognize the outcome of the vote next January.
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