Sudan and China discuss expansion of Khartoum refinery
Sudan’s oil minister Al-Zubair Ahmed Al-Hassan was in China for talks on Khartoum refinery expansion, the official news agency SUNA reported today.
The minister of energy and mining, Al-Zubair, discussed during a regular meeting of Khartoum Refinery Board the performance of the refinery during the past year and plans for the new year.
The minister, who chaired the meeting, also tackled with Chinese officials an agreement to increase its production to 200 thousand barrels per day instead of its current capacity of 100,000 bpd to meet the growing need of oil derivatives.
Sudan and the state firm China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) signed on November 17, 2009 an agreement on the second phase of the expansion of the refinery.
China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), a leading energy investor in Sudan and parent of Asia’s top oil and gas firm PetroChina, owns 50 percent of the refinery, which it built and operates. The Sudan government holds the rest.
In London, Archbishop Daniel Deng, leader of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan, accused China of pursuing a damaging policy of economic gain in Sudan and urged Beijing to use its influence to help ease rising tension ahead of elections.
"China is looking only for minerals, they are looking for economic benefit. That is all. That is damaging the country. They are not even making peace," the Anglican archbishop said during a visit to Lambeth Palace in London on Monday.
"They are not interested in whether Sudan goes to war or not. That is not their mission, that is not their problem," he further said.
Deng was joined by the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, who recommended a single high level figure to act as a mediator between the feuding parties and called on China to play a “positive” role in peace efforts.
The Archbishops later expressed their concerns in a meeting with the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
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