Juba – Reuters: South Sudan’s Minister of Petroleum, Puot Kang Chol, said on Tuesday that the country will resume oil production in Blocks 3 and 7 on Wednesday with an initial output of 90,000 barrels per day.
South Sudan’s economy has been under pressure in recent years due to sectarian violence and disruptions to crucial crude oil export revenues resulting from export interruptions caused by the war in Sudan.Sudan lifted a nearly year-long “force majeure” on transporting crude oil from South Sudan to a Red Sea port after security conditions improved. Chol said at a press conference, “You all know it will be a gradual process, we won’t reach the required figure on the first day, but we’re targeting 90,000 barrels per day.” He added, “This is what the pipeline will accommodate in the first phase, and if we have the capacity to increase (production) after that, we will do so.”Chol mentioned that the government has reached an agreement with Malaysia’s Petronas to pay for its shares until a new partner is found to replace it. Petronas had announced in August that it would exit South Sudan after managing operations in the country for nearly three decades. The company said at the time that its unit had initiated proceedings against South Sudan for obstructing the sale of its local assets valued at $1.25 billion and seizing its operations.Chol added that the agreement with Petronas would not affect its partners, which include the China National Petroleum Corporation, Sinopec, and Tri-Ocean Energy.South Sudan was pumping about 150,000 barrels per day of crude oil through Sudan for export before the civil war, under a formula established when South Sudan gained independence from Khartoum in 2011.
