South Sudan to Resume Oil Exports
By Nicholas Bariyo
South Sudan will resume oil exports in the next four weeks, ending a nearly yearlong stoppage following an agreement over oil transit fees with former civil war foe Sudan, the country’s information minister told The Wall Street Journal Monday.
Preparations at major oil fields in the Unity and Upper Nile states are on schedule to begin pumping as much as 200,000 barrels of oil a day before the end of November, Barnaba Benjamin said by telephone from Juba, South Sudan’s capital.
“Within the next four weeks, oil will be flowing again,” Mr. Benjamin said. “We should be able to bring production to pre-closure levels in a few months.”
The resumption of crude shipments will be a major relief for South Sudan, whose economy has been battered hard by the shutdown. Until January, South Sudan shipped as much as 350,000 barrels a day of crude, with exports accounting for up to 98% of its foreign revenues.
