Review Oil Sanctions on Sudan in Case of Secession
The U.S. needs to reconsider its current sanctions against Sudan’s oil industry if the nation splits in two early next year, Senator John Kerry said.
Under a 2005 peace agreement, the semi-autonomous region of Southern Sudan, which holds 80 percent of Sudan’s proven oil reserves, is set to vote in a January referendum on whether to
break away and form a new country.
Sanctions against Sudan’s oil will need to be changed if the south secedes, Kerry told a group of reporters today in the southern capital, Juba. “If the south does secede, it is going to need those revenues, and the north is going to need the revenues in the future to make up the differential,” he said.
The U.S. is willing to strengthen its ties with Sudan’s northern-based government, which is on the U.S. State Department’s list of states sponsoring terror, in order to work toward a peaceful outcome to the referendum, said the senator, who heads the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee.
Oil from Sudan’s landlocked southern region is exported through the north via a pipeline running to Port Sudan on the Red Sea. Both sides currently split revenue from oil pumped in the south. No agreement has been reached on pipeline-usage fees or a revenue-sharing arrangement if Southern Sudan secedes.
“It’s to everybody’s benefit to be able to get that to market,” Kerry said of the south’s oil production. “That’s one of the upsides to the north engaging in this process in a fully constructive way.”
Sudan Legislation
Last month, Kerry proposed the Sudan Peace and Stability Act of 2010, which calls for reviewing current sanctions on Sudan if the nation is divided and for increasing U.S. aid to Southern Sudan.
The 2005 peace agreement ended a 21-year civil war in which 2 million people died. “This will be a very challenged nation, one of the poorest in the world, if it is suddenly independent,” Kerry said of the south today.
China is the primary recipient of Sudan’s crude exports, and China National Petroleum Corp. is heavily invested in the industry. “We would like to see China do more to help move the
process in a constructive direction,” Kerry said.
Sudan pumps 490,000 barrels of crude a day, which makes it the third-largest oil-producer in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy.
Southern Sudanese overwhelmingly favor independence in the referendum, according to a report this week from the National Democratic Institute in Washington. The report was based on
focus-group surveys across the region earlier this year.
- Database Search
- Unpaid Debt A comprehensive overview of the role of the Lundin Consortium in the oil war. ECOS calls upon the Swedish, Austrian and Malaysian governments to investigate whether, as a matter of international law, Lundin, OMV and Petronas 'were complicit in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity by others during the period 1997-2003.’ In response, the Swedish Public Prosecutor for International crimes opened a criminal investigation into ‘links between Sweden and the reported crimes’.
- In Depth For more specific information about the Lundin court case please visit the Unpaid Debt dossier.
