South Sudan’s Officials: Khartoum loads south’s oil on Sudan ship; Khartoum Claims: South Sudan Owes Sudan over USD 900 Million
Jan 14 (Reuters) – South Sudan said Sudan had ordered the loading of 650,000 barrels of southern crude oil on to a tanker belonging to Khartoum, escalating tensions between north and south over how to share oil revenues.
There was no immediate comment by Sudan’s foreign ministry, which on Friday accused South Sudan of having failed to pay duties for oil shipments at the northern oil export terminal in Port Sudan.
South Sudan took over two-thirds of Sudan’s oil production of around 490,000 barrels per day when it became independent in July under a 2005 peace agreement that ended decades of civil war.
The new, landlocked African nation needs to use a northern pipeline and the Red Sea port of Port Sudan to export its crude, but both sides have failed to reach a deal on how much it will pay.
South Sudan’s oil ministry said on Saturday Sudan had forced pipeline operator Petrodar to load the shipment, which is worth $65 million, to a tanker belonging to Khartoum.
“The government of the Republic of South Sudan was informed by Petrodar … that such loading was required, non-negotiable and overseen by the government of Sudan and their national security,” it said.
It named the vessel as “MT Sea Sky.”
Officials at the Sudanese foreign ministry could not immediately be reached for comment after Reuters sent the South Sudanese statement to the ministry via email.
On Friday, the foreign ministry said Sudan was holding two southern shipments because South Sudan had failed to pay the port duties. Two other vessels turned back after approaching Port Sudan when they leaned that port duties had not been paid, it added.
Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said this month Khartoum would impose a fee until a deal is reached with Juba over a transit fee. He did not elaborate.
Petrodar, a consortium which produces oil in South Sudan and operates the pipeline, could not be immediately reached for comment. Major shareholders include state-owned China National Petroleum Corp, Sinopec and Malaysia’s Petronas.
Sudan and South Sudan are due to resume bilateral talks over sharing oil revenues, sponsored by the African Union, in Ethiopia after making no progress in previous talks. (Reporting by Hereward Holland; Writing by Ulf Laessing)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/14/idUSL6E8CE0BG20120114
South Sudan Owes Sudan over USD 900 Million
Khartoum – Oil export revenue arrears payable by South Sudan to Sudan have exceeded USD 900 millions, and that include charges for oil processing, transit fees, cost of transport as well as fees for use of Port, says Sabir Mohamed Al-Hassan, former governor of the Central Bank of Sudan.
Dr. Sabir, who is also head of Sudan’s economic delegation to talks in Addis Ababa, explained that the Government of South Sudan is not willing to enter into any agreement on fees for use of North’s oil facilities and has also rejected the AU proposal and at the same time it wants to use the North’s oil infrastructure to export its oil.
“That is why the Sudanese Government has decided to take its entitlement in kind starting from first December last in return for the services rendered to the South in the form of use of North’s facilities to export its oil and indeed we have taken what is payable to us” he said.
He said the non-payment of charges by the Government of South Sudan to the Sudan has negatively affected the latter’s economy and rate of exchange of its pound.
“We are concerned that this hard-line stance on the part of the South is a reflection of lack of understanding and cooperation caused by the existence of extremist elements and foreign agenda seeking to create problems for Sudan,” he said.
Dr. Sabir expressed the Sudanese Government’s determination to participate in the talks in Addis Ababa scheduled for 17 January, to be held in presence of the AU mediator. “We hope to reach understandings and agreement to address outstanding economic issues which were supposed to have been resolved long back” he said “From our side, we have shown good intention to cooperate with the South and we are keen to achieve understandings and deals that will assist the new state to shoulder its tasks and responsibilities and to enable it to use oil facilities in the North to export its oil abroad despite the fact that it did not sign any agreement, protocol or understanding for cooperation and without paying transit fees since early July 2011”, he said, adding that “The Government of the South refused to enter into any agreement on charges payable to the North.”
“If an agreement is not reached on the outstanding economic issues both the North and South will be negatively affected and the situation may further escalate and that will also harm the two countries” he warned.
Dr. Sabir expressed hope that efforts by China would succeed to narrow the gap of differences between the two countries. “China is the largest trade partner and maintains distinguished relations with both the Sudan and South Sudan and has appointed special envoy to exert efforts to bring about understanding between Khartoum and Juba” he said.
It is worth mentioning that the Sudan and South Sudan differ on oil sharing whose fields are largely located in the South but the North is also home to key oil facilities.
Oil contributes 98% to South Sudan’s budget which seceded from the North last summer.
Last week Khartoum prevented two South’s oil tankers from leaving the Port and also denied access to the Port for two shipments.
South Sudan announced the conclusion of first oil contract with the outside world since its independence in July when it signed agreements with Chinese, Indian and Malaysian companies.
By Staff Writer, 7 hours 26 minutes ago
http://news.sudanvisiondaily.com/details.html?rsnpid=204889
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| South Sudan Owes Sudan over USD 900 Million Sudan Vision Khartoum – Oil export revenue arrears payable by South Sudan to Sudan have exceeded USD 900 millions, and that include charges for oil processing, transit fees, cost of transport as well as fees for use of Port, says Sabir Mohamed Al-Hassan |
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