Juba summons Chinese ambassador over oil blockage
South Sudan on Monday summoned the Chinese ambassador to Juba to complain over an alleged blockage of the flow of its oil to international markets through Sudanese territory, government sources have said.
Chinese companies dominate the South Sudanese oil industry having been welcomed into Sudan before the South seceded from the north in 2011 taking with 75% of the country’s 500,000 barrels per day of oil production.
South Sudanese oil production was halted in January 2012 due to a dispute between Khartoum and Juba over transit fees but, as part of a cooperation deal, production resumed last month. President Salva Kiir is scheduled to join his Sudanese counterpart Omar al-Bashir in to witness the first Southern crude to be exported from Port Sudan on the Red Sea for almost a year and a half.
However, sources in Juba told Sudan Tribune on Monday that on the directives of the government of Khartoum, oil from the Tharjath oil field in Unity state had not flowed into Heglig - a contested oil-producing areas on the north-south border - for the last three days.
A senior government officials at the ministry of petroleum and mining told Sudan Tribune on Monday that the pipes had been shutdown and oil workers chased away from the area by the members of Sudan’s security services. The security service personnel had been sent to the area "for the protection of the very oil workers they harassed and chased”, the source said.
The official, who requested to remain anonymous said the South Sudan’s oil minister, Stephen Dhieu Dau, on Sunday called his Sudanese counterpart, Awad Ahmed Al Jaz over the issue.
Al Jaz told Dau that "he does not know anything about the issue and he will contact field managers to know what happened and will call back the minister but did not call him back since yesterday. Our ministry decided to send in a team led by the undersecretary and the director General today. They went and found out that nuts were tied. We did not expect this”, he explained.
Sudanese intelligence and security services accused some circles in Juba of continuing to support the rebel groups who last month attacked several areas in South and North Kordofan.
Sudanese security officials say Darfur rebels who took part in the attack on Heglig in April 2012 are still have some presence in the Unity state, despite the signing of cooperation agreement.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS SUMMONED CHINESE AMBASSADOR
Officials at South Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation confirmed summoning Chinese ambassador over the alleged blockage of the oil flow by the Sudanese government.
“The ministry decided to summon the Chinese ambassador today because of the reports from the petroleum and mining ministry about the sudden blockage of the flow of oil again by the Sudanese authorities. This is a clear violation of the cooperation agreement. This is why we decided to involve our partners who are also the stakeholders in the oil production. We want to know and see what role they can play at this moment”, a senior diplomat at the ministry told Sudan Tribune on Monday.
The official who also requested anonymity said the government wants to give diplomatic efforts a chance before coming out with the details to the public, saying he hopes China will be able to convince Khartoum allow the full flow of the oil and operation of the workers without intervention.
“You see the cooperation agreement is very clear on the oil resumption. It does not limit the flow. Also we allowed Sudanese security operatives to our fields for the protection of the workers not to be involved in the technical work. These are the issues which we brought up today at the meeting with the Chinese ambassador. We made it very clear that oil workers must be allowed to do their work without interference from any side because they are technical people”, the official explained to Sudan Tribune.
Meanwhile South Sudanese Minister of Information and Broadcasting Service, Barnaba Marial Benjamin denied any knowledge of the closure of the oil follow when contacted by the Sudan Tribune on Monday.
“I cannot confirm because I do not have any information”, Marial told Sudan Tribune on Monday without giving additional comments.
However, a senior civil servant who works at national legislative Assembly in Juba told Sudan Tribune: “Minister Marial knows what is happening but he does not want to be quoted out by the media because he thinks it will generate public disquiet and possible protest which is what they want to avoid. The government wants to try diplomatic efforts. They want to handle it diplomatically.”
“It is not a secret anymore. It is already public knowledge. The government should just tell the public what happened instead of trying to sleep on what is already known. Our people in the field are communicating with us and they are saying what is happening there”, the official explained.
NO COMMENTS FOR CLOSURE
The undersecretary the ministry of petroleum and Mining, Machar Ader told Sudan Tribune that he would not comment on the issue when contacted by Sudan Tribune on Monday.
Ader was the senior official at the ministry of petroleum and Mining who led a technical delegation to the field on Monday. He is expected to make internal briefing on Tuesday to the government.
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