2013

South Sudan plans to auction licences for a yet-to-be determined number of new petroleum exploration blocks once it has finished mapping them, a senior energy ministry official said on Tuesday.

Kigali: His Excellency Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda, His Excellency Uhuru Kenyatta, President of the Republic of Kenya, His Excellency Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, President of the Republic of Uganda, and His Excellency Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit, President of the Republic of South Sudan attended the Integration Projects Summit on October 28, 2013, in Kigali, Rwanda.

Omar Bashir and Salva Kiir, the presidents of Sudan and South Sudan respectively, are working together again to keep oil production flowing.

One of the biggest investors in Western Canada’s energy boom is facing accusations of violating a United Nations arms embargo by providing fuel to military aircraft that attack civilians in war-torn Darfur.

People’s Republic of China (PRC) officials are becoming increasingly apprehensive about the rise in the use of the westward corridor to export oil, diamonds, and rare minerals out of South Sudan and the Central African Republic via Cameroon. In other words, this creates a flow to Atlantic sea and air transportation routes, rather than routes eastward to Indian Ocean trade routes.

In Niger, government officials have fought a Chinese oil giant step by step, painfully undoing parts of a contract they call ruinous. In neighboring Chad, they have been even more forceful, shutting down the Chinese and accusing them of gross environmental negligence. In Gabon, they have seized major oil tracts from China, handing them over to the state company.

Sudan Monday postponed its deadline for the closure of the economically vital pipeline network carrying South Sudanese oil until next month. The period “has been extended for another two weeks that ends on Sept. 6,” the official SUNA news agency said in a brief SMS dispatch which gave no details on what was the second such postponement.

South Sudan has moved closer to its target of gaining access to a pipeline to export its oil to the south instead of through Sudan, now the presidents of Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda have agreed to build two pipelines across East Africa.

The US Ambassador to Juba, Susan Page has stated that companies from her country were interested in South Sudan’s oil, when asked about the subject at a press conference. The SPLM government has "divided some of the blocks and sub-divided some of the blocks that have previously been granted and there is real interest in a number of American companies", the Ambassador said.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir’s June 8 announcement to halt the transportation of South Sudan oil through the Sudanese pipelines sent shockwaves through the country. Crude oil had only just begun to flow through the pipelines in May, with the first cargoes sold last week for shipment from Port Sudan. Experts warn that stopping transportation is costly as pipes can become blocked.