2011

As north and south Sudan prepare to start talks next week on how to divide and fairly manage their oil wealth -- a vital revenue source and a cause of mistrust -- analysts say cooperation, not conflict, may prevail.

Article published by Le Monde on the role of Lundin Petrouleum in Sudan - in French

South Sudan will examine alternative outlets for its oil exports if it makes any new discoveries, so as to break its reliance on infrastructure that ties it to the north, the ruling party said.

The new state of South Sudan that is expected to officially become the world’s newest state in July, has no intention of continuing to split the proceeds from oil revenue, an official in the South’s ruling party said.

The secession of Southern Sudan has been decided upon. Economic observers now draw their attention towards the future cooperation between the North and the South. In focus is the oil industry.
Oil extraction in the South, the use of the Northern pipelines and oil exports are the issues and themes Shadia Saied Ahmad discussed with the head of the Energy and Mining Committee's oil subcommittee at the National Assembly, Dr Yasir Abu Kasawi, in the following interview.

As a land ravaged by decades of war prepares to become an independent nation this summer, many southern Sudanese are pinning their hopes for prosperity on oil. Sudan is the third-largest oil-producing country in sub-Saharan Africa, and 80 percent of the oil lies in the south.

But regulating the industry will be among the new government's biggest challenges, experts say, raising questions about whether the oil deposits in one of the world's poorest regions will benefit the people who live there.

Dividing up Sudan’s oil industry between north and south is emerging as a challenge akin to separating conjoined twins, a fact that has heavily invested Chinese interests uneasy as the country prepares to split.

North Sudan’s output of oil is expected to ascend to 195 barrel per day by the end of next year, the country’s oil ministry has announced.

With the Sudanese referendum this week, Nnimmo Bassey looks back at Nigeria's civil war in 1967, what is at stake for South Sudan and the role of oil in the region.

Beijing has invested billions in the oil-rich country and may now have to step up to ensure stability prevails. As the world anxiously watches the southern Sudanese vote on whether to secede, one country has more to lose than most if civil war returns to Sudan. With an estimated 24,000 of its citizens living there and billions of dollars worth of investments in the country, China is the key foreign player in Khartoum.