South Sudan oil output may take six months after shutdown ends
South Sudan’s oil production may take more than six months to resume depending on the length of
the halt, according to Petrodar Operating Co.
Petrodar halted output on Jan. 28 on the instruction of South Sudan’s government, which accuses Sudan of stealing its oil, the oil pipeline company based in South Sudan’s capital, Juba, said today in an e-mailed statement.
“Petrodar is currently assessing the impact of the shutdown to the wells and facilities,” it said. “It is
estimated that a minimum of 40 days to six months or possibly longer is required to resume the production depending on the duration of the shutdown.”
South Sudan, which took control of about three-quarters of the former unified Sudan’s output of 490,000 barrels a day when it gained independence on July 9, started shutting down production after the two countries failed to reach an agreement on how much landlocked South Sudan should pay to transport its oil through a pipeline across its northern neighbor.
South Sudan still relies on the north for access to an export terminal on the Red Sea. Sudan’s government said on Jan. 15 it’s owed at least $1 billion in oil levies, while South Sudan says it owes $23 million. The crude is pumped mainly by China National Petroleum Corp., or CNPC, Malaysia’s Petroliam Nasional Bhd. and India’s ONGC Videsh Ltd.
South Sudan accuses Sudan of diverting fuel to its refinery, forcing companies to load oil onto ships under its control and blockading other shipments. Sudan said it confiscated crude to cover unpaid fees.
Loaded Tankers
Petrodar said it has no information on the location of three ships it loaded last month with southern oil.
The Sea Sky is in the Red Sea off Port Sudan while the ETC Isis is off Malaysia after calling at the port on Jan. 30, according to AISLive data compiled by Bloomberg. The last registered location of the third ship, the Al-Nouf, was on Jan. 7 off the United Arab Emirates, the data show.
Petrodar said it was ordered on Jan. 17 to divert 120,000 barrels of southern crude through a “tie-in” pipeline constructed by Sudan to a government-owned refinery.
“The entire exercise was executed solely by Sudan without any involvement of Petrodar staff,” the company said, adding that it isn’t able to say how much oil was diverted because of a lack of metering facilities at the tie-in point.
South Sudanese Oil Minister Stephen Dhieu Dau said on Jan. 27 his government would investigate whether Petrodar had under- reported output by 40,000 barrels per day. Petrodar denies the claims, according to today’s statement.
‘Comprehensive Investigation’
“The only way to answer it is that we are going to conduct a comprehensive investigation,” Dau said today by telephone from Juba. Steps will be taken this week to form an investigating committee, he said.
The figure may have been a result of mismeasurement, Petrodar said. The oil in its Palouge Field Processing Facility appears larger in volume than it does after being measured at the Jabalyn central processing facility because it includes water that is later separated, it said.
Petrodar also denied reports that it had understated the number of wells it was operating. The company has 601 wells, of which an average of 550 are active, figures it had reported to the South Sudan government, it said.
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