Sudan denies blocking two south sudanese oil shipments
Sudan's government denied it's blocking two South Sudanese oil shipments through its pipeline and said it was confident of defending any legal action taken by its southern neighbor over the dispute.
South Sudan said yesterday the blockade prompted China International United Petroleum & Chemical Corp., which is awaiting delivery of 600,000 barrels of oil, to write a letter of complaint about the delay. A 1 million barrel shipment scheduled to be sent to Geneva-based Vitol SA by Dec. 1 has also been delayed, according to the country's Oil Ministry.
``Sudan hasn't blocked any oil shipments and shall never do,'' al-Obeid Murawih, spokesman for Sudan's Foreign Ministry, said by phone today from Khartoum, the capital. ``If a company has really complained to the south, then I assure you it was just stopped for some routine reasons and will resume its work shortly.''
Sudan said on Nov. 30 that while it had not blocked crude shipments from the south that pass through its pipelines for export from Port Sudan on the Red Sea, it has started taking a percentage of the south's oil that it says should be paid as transportation fees.
South Sudanese Oil Minister Stephen Dhieu Dau said today the consignments still hadn't been shipped as of last night and his country may be forced halt oil production on Dec. 6 unless the shipment is moved.
"Khartoum should not lie," he said in a phone interview today from Juba, the South Sudanese capital.
Legal Action
South Sudan said on Dec. 1 it will take legal action against anyone who trades in oil ``unlawfully taken from South Sudan by or on behalf of'' the government of Sudan.
"South Sudan is welcome to take any legal action, and we're quite sure we're compliant with international law and ready for any legal disputes," Murawih said. ``We've been trying hard to reach a solution over oil with them for the last six months and we couldn't, so maybe seeking international arbitration might solve the problem.''
Officials from the two countries failed to reached agreement this week in African Union-brokered talks in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on the fees South Sudan should pay the north to ship its crude, as well as the disputed region of Abyei, and said negotiations will resume this month.
`More Difficulties'
``The relations between the north and the south are heading toward more difficulties, which would complicate resolution of other pending issues, including border demarcation, Abyei and the oil,'' Fouad Hikmat, the special adviser on Sudan for the International Crisis Group, said in a Skype call from Zanzibar today.
South Sudan assumed control of about three-quarters of the former state's output of 490,000 barrels a day when it seceded on July 9. Last month it seized the stakes held by Sudan's state oil company, Sudapet, in joint operations in the south with companies such as China National Petroleum Corp., Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Bhd. and India's Oil & Natural Gas Corp.
China on Nov. 29 urged the two sides to reach agreement in negotiations.
``Maintaining normal production of oil is important to both South Sudan and Sudan,'' Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters in Beijing. ``We hope North and South Sudan can stay rational, show restraint, and resolve relevant problems through neighborly pragmatism and friendly talks.''
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- 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’.
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