South Sudan earned 1.9$ bn from oil as output boost pledged
JUBA, South Sudan (Bloomberg) -- South Sudan said it earned $1.9 billion from oil sales in the 12 months through May as the country seeks to restore output lost in nearly six months of conflict.
The sale of 35.3 MMbbl of crude brought total revenue of $3.5 billion, the Petroleum Ministry said in an emailed statement late yesterday, June 1. Of that figure, $857 million was allocated to neighboring Sudan, which exports the oil via pipelines across its territory to a port on the Red Sea, and $788 million went to loan settlements, it said. The ministry didn’t provide figures for the previous 12-month period when oil output was shut down due to a dispute over transit fees.
Petroleum Minister Stephen Dhieu Dau expressed “optimism” that “current operational challenges” to oil production will be resolved and output restored to its level in 2011, when the country declared independence from Sudan, according to the statement.
South Sudanese oil production has fallen by at least a third to about 160,000 bpd since fighting erupted in mid-December between factions loyal to President Salva Kiir and his former deputy, Riek Machar.
Oil facilities have been a key target for rebel forces, with Upper Nile the only state still pumping crude. Last week, Finance Minister Aggrey Tisa Sabuni said the government has borrowed $200 million from oil companies operating in the country to make up for a fall in revenue.
Fighting in the world’s newest nation has left thousands of people dead and forced more than 1.3 million to flee their homes, according to the United Nations. Clashes have continued in oil-rich Upper Nile and Unity states, even after Kiir and Machar signed a May 9 accord seeking to end the violence.
06/02/2014
- Database Search
- 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’.
- In Depth For more specific information about the Lundin court case please visit the Unpaid Debt dossier.
