South Sudan orders oil production shutdown within 2 weeks deepening row with Khartoum
9 min readCongrats President Kiir,
In my opinion, this is the best decision that GROSS has to take given all options available to it. In fact, it is the best decision ever made in Juba since 2005!! I fully support the resolution because Khartoum is behaving like a thug in total disregard to international norms and the spirit of neighborliness.
We rather borrow our way into another pipeline, no matter how long it may take, than tolerating blatant midday robbery of our national resources by Khartoum in collusion with the Chinese and other hungry-oil-seekers who have power to bear on Khartoum belligerence but chose not to.
Let see what the Chinese response would be now that oil is shut down. Did you notice how quickly they reacted when Khartoum dared to shut down the pipeline but opt to look the other way when Khartoum was stealing our oil? That is not friendship, it is Colonization!
Oil wells, economically speaking, can be used as mortgages, to borrow from international community as new pipeline route is being constructed. The borrowed money could be used to run the government till things settle down.
PaanLuel Wel.
South Sudan shuts down its oil production countrywide
January 20, 2012 (JUBA) – The government of the Republic of South Sudan has decided to shut down all its oil production throughout the country in response to the action by Khartoum which confiscated the oil as it flows through North Sudan pipelines…………….Read More below
http://www.sudantribune.com/South-Sudan-shuts-down-its-oil,41353?var_mode=calcul
South Sudan rebuffs proposed meeting between Kiir, Bashir
January 19, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – South Sudan has reacted negatively to a proposal by Kenya to organize a meeting between its president, Salva Kiir Mayardit, and Sudan’s President Omer Al-Bashir, in contrast with Khartoum’s positive response….
http://www.sudantribune.com/South-Sudan-rebuffs-proposed,41352
South Sudan orders oil production shutdown within 2 weeks deepening row with Khartoum
Friday, 20 January 2012
By AL ARABIYA WITH AGENCIES
South Sudan has ordered the shutdown of oil production amid a deepening row with Khartoum over pipeline fees, the government said Friday.
“The government has instructed the minister of petroleum and mining to proceed with arrangements for a complete shutdown of oil production,” Minister of Information Barnaba Marial Benjamin told AFP Friday.
“The council of ministers decided today that in light of the present quantities of oil being taken by Khartoum” it would halt production, he added.
The South split from Sudan in July, taking with it 75 percent of the country’s oil production of 470,000 barrels per day, but despite its oil wealth the new state lacks the infrastructure to refine and export oil.
Sudan and South Sudan are locked in a row over sharing oil revenues after Juba took two-thirds of output when it became independent.
The landlocked new African nation needs to use a northern pipeline and port to export the crude but has failed to reach an agreement with Khartoum over a transit fee, prompting Sudan to seize part of its oil as compensation, according to Reuters.
The former civil war enemies — now regional neighbors — have exchanged repeated tit-for-tat accusations in a bitter spat during dragging oil negotiations, raising tensions between the two sides.
However, Benjamin said shutting down production would not be immediate, and that South Sudanese President Salva Kiir would meet with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir before it was stopped.
“It is not just closed like a door-key…. it cannot be less than seven days,” he said of the planned shutdown. “The council has also agreed that President Kiir will meet Omar al-Bashir at the African Union in Addis Ababa on Jan. 27.”
Oil companies in South Sudan include Nile Petroleum Corporation, wholly-owned by the Juba government, and Petrodar Operating Company, which is owned mainly by China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), Petronas of Malaysia, Sudapet of Sudan and SINOPEC of China.
China, which relies on South Sudan for nearly five percent of its oil, is supporting negotiations between the two sides in the Ethiopian capital.
Sudan is demanding $1 billion for unpaid transit fees since July plus $36 a barrel in the future as transit fee, roughly a third of the export value of southern oil. Khartoum also wants Juba to share Sudan’s external debt of $38 billion.
South Sudan pumps around 350,000 bpd, officials have said. Sudan produces 115,000 bpd in its remaining fields but needs it for domestic consumption.
Sudan’s government is under pressure to overcome a severe economic crisis after losing the southern oil, which made up 90 percent of the country’s exports. It generated $5 billion in oil revenues in 2010.
Juba has offered Sudan the sale of discounted oil and other financial help, but neither side shows sign of shifting their positions.
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/01/20/189465.html
South Sudan Threatens Oil Production Shutdown
VOA News
South Sudan says it may shut down oil production because neighboring Sudan is seizing southern oil flowing through its pipelines.
South Sudan government spokesman Barnaba Marial Benjamin told reporters Friday that the minister of petroleum and mining has begun a process to halt production within the next two weeks.
VOA has learned that South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir will meet in Ethiopia’s capital next week in an effort to resolve the dispute.
VOA – E. Pfotzer
South Sudan took over 75 percent of Sudanese oil production when it split from the north in July, and now pumps about 350,000 barrels of oil per day. But the new country lacks the pipelines or port to send its oil abroad, so relies on facilities controlled by Khartoum.
Sudan’s government began taking southern oil last month, after South Sudan balked at paying what it considers excessive fees to use the north’s infrastructure.
A southern minister last week accused the north of stealing more than 3 million barrels of oil in all. Khartoum has acknowledged taking some southern oil, saying it acted in lieu of payment.
China, which is a major buyer of Sudanese oil, has urged the two Sudans to resolve their differences through negotiations.
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/South-Sudan-Threatens-Oil-Production-Shutdown-137758173.html
Turning the taps off? South Sudan threatens oil shut-in
South Sudan ‘to shut oil production’
South Sudan has accused neighbouring Sudan of “looting” its oil and has threatened to begin shutting-in production over the next fortnight as the pair continues to row over oil payments, a report claims.
The world’s newest country, recently made independent from its neighbour, does not intend to “produce oil for the Republic of Sudan,” Reuters quoted a South Sudan official as saying.
The South has recently accused Sudan of holding onto oil shipments sent through the latter’s pipeline infrastructure for loading at Port Sudan as in-fighting continues following July’s independence declaration without any subsequent hard-and-fast agreement on oil revenue sharing.
“The ministry of petroleum and mining will sit down to start a technical process that will lead to a decision that will lead to a complete shutdown,” South Sudan government spokesperson Barnaba Marial told Reuters on Friday.
“That will be in a week or two weeks.
“We have taken this decision because South Sudan is not benefiting from oil. It is being taken by force by the Republic of Sudan, and the oil that is going through the pipeline is being looted.”
The news wire quoted the official as positing: “Why would the Republic of South Sudan produce oil for the Republic of Sudan?”
South Sudan claimed on 10 January that Khartoum had diverted southern oil to northern refineries and storage facilities and prevented the loading or departure of five tankers meant to carry 3.4 million barrels of crude out of Port Sudan.
The north said it had not stolen the oil but is taking its share in kind until a transit deal is agreed.
Reports of the confiscation of threaten the region’s prospects for peace and the negotiation of a new oil deal, according to Global Witness.
The non-governmental organisation said recently that the two countries “must agree to a new and transparent arrangement soon or risk seeing the situation deteriorate into renewed conflict”.
Both countries were due to resume talks on 17 January, but tensions were high before the meeting amid reports of export disruption and confiscation of crude by the north.
Published: 20 January 2012 15:38 GMT | Last updated: 59 minutes ago
http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article299166.ece
South Sudan halts oil production in row with Khartoum
Both Sudan and South Sudan are heavily dependent on oil revenuesOil production has been halted in South Sudan amid a dispute over sharing revenues with the Khartoum government.
South Sudan gained independence in July 2011 but the two states have not been able to agree on how to divide their oil wealth.
Most of the oil is produced in the south but is exported from Port Sudan in the north.
Sudan has accused the south of not paying transport fees and said it is taking the revenues in lieu of payment.
The two sides are currently holding talks in Ethiopia to try and reach a deal.
China, a major buyer of oil from both countries, has urged them to resolve their differences.
But South Sudan’s Information Minister Marial Barnaba Benjamin told the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme that the cabinet had decided to turn off the taps.
“We are not benefiting from the oil,” he said, accusing Khartoum of stealing it.
South Sudan has to export oil via the north because it has no port or refineries of its own.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16657685
South Sudan says to shut oil production within 2 weeks
JUBA (Reuters) – South Sudan said on Friday it was preparing to gradually shut down oil production within two weeks after Sudan said it had started seizing southern oil to compensate for what it said were unpaid transit fees.
Sudan and South Sudan are locked in a row over sharing oil revenues after Juba took two-thirds of output when it became independent in July.
The landlocked new African nation needs to use a northern pipeline and port to export the crude but has failed to reach an agreement with Khartoum over a transit fee, prompting Sudan to seize part of its oil as compensation.
“The ministry of petroleum and mining will sit down to start a technical process that will lead to a decision that will lead to a complete shutdown. That will be in a week or two weeks,” government spokesman Barnaba Marial Benjamin told Reuters.
“We have taken this decision because South Sudan is not benefiting from oil. It is being taken by force by the Republic of Sudan, and the oil that is going through the pipeline is being looted,” he said.
“Why would the Republic of South Sudan produce oil for the Republic of Sudan,” he said.
Khartoum has said Sudan is seizing some oil and diverting some of it to its two refineries but has not said whether it would try selling any seized oil.
South Sudan has said Khartoum has ordered loading of 2.15 million barrels of its oil onto northern ships at Port Sudan since last week.
Sudan is demanding $1 billion for unpaid transit fees since July plus $36 a barrel in the future as transit fee, roughly a third of the export value of southern oil. Khartoum also wants Juba to share Sudan’s external debt of $38 billion.
South Sudan pumps around 350,000 bpd, officials have said. Sudan produces 115,000 bpd in its remaining fields but needs it for domestic consumption.
Sudan’s government is under pressure to overcome a severe economic crisis after losing the southern oil, which made up 90 percent of the country’s exports. It generated $5 billion in oil revenues in 2010.
Juba has offered Sudan the sale of discounted oil and other financial help, but neither side shows sign of shifting their positions.
http://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFJOE80J07H20120120?sp=true
About Post Author
