SOUTH SUDAN: Row between Juba and Chinese oil firms escalates after South Sudan expell the head of the biggest oil firm operating in the new African nation

Record ID: 344120

  • Title: SOUTH SUDAN: Row between Juba and Chinese oil firms escalates after South Sudan expell the head of the biggest oil firm operating in the new African nation
  • Date: 23rd February 2012
  • Summary: PALOUGE, SOUTH SUDAN (FEBRUARY 21, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF OIL PROCESSING FACILITY MINISTERS AND SENIOR OIL OFFICIALS WALK AROUND OIL PROCESSING FACILITY OIL PIPES VARIOUS OF MINISTERS AND OIL OFFICIALS EXAMINING TV SCREEN SHOWING SHUTDOWN OF OIL (SOUNDBITE) (English) SOUTH SUDAN'S CHIEF NEGOTIATOR, PAGAN AMUM, SAYING: "The relations with China are good. They are relations which are just beginning and will be developing. Yes, we have some difficulties with the oil companies. The minister has just expelled the President of Petrodar company." OIL WORKER SHOWS OIL OFFICIALS SCREEN SHOWING OIL SHUTDOWN (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) SOUTH SUDAN'S CHIEF NEGOTIATOR, PAGAN AMUM, SAYING: "One of the reasons is lack of cooperation of the President of Petrodar and we have dismissed him and expelled him." VARIOUS OF OIL PROCESSING FACILITY VARIOUS OF OIL OFFICIALS INSPECTING OIL PROCESSING FACILITY SOUTH SUDAN FLAG LAPEL BADGE (SOUNDBITE) (English) SOUTH SUDAN'S MINISTER OF PETROLEUM, STEPHEN DHIEU DAU, SAYING: "If it is confirmed, I'm not accusing them because it must be confirmed by the court, if they are the ones that bought the crude with the knowledge that the crude or commodity is stolen, and they went and agreed with Sudan, then it has spoiled any future relations or transactions with us." SOUTH SUDAN'S MINISTER OF PETROLEUM ,STEPHEN DHIEU DAU, SAYING: "They said they don't want to be part of the stolen resources of South Sudan so they went out to clear their path by depositing the money into the court, then the two blaming parties - the government of Sudan and the republic of South Sudan will go to court and present the related documents." OIL PROCESSING FACILITY PALOUGE AIRPORT SOUTH SUDAN FLAG
  • Embargoed: 9th March 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Sudan, South Sudan
  • Country: South Sudan
  • Topics: Business,International Relations,Politics,Energy
  • Reuters ID: LVA89VMHOJ72VJBCODZITRAHEXSF
  • Story Text: South Sudan has expelled the boss of the Chinese-Malaysian oil consortium Petrodar, the main oil firm operating in the new African nation, a top southern official said on Tuesday ( February 21) escalating a row between Juba and Chinese oil firms.
    South Sudan has repeatedly attacked Chinese oil firms and launched an investigation into whether they helped Khartoum seize southern oil being exported from the landlocked country through Sudan.
    Juba has shut down its oil output of 350,000 barrels per day to end the seizures, which were sparked off by a dispute over transit fees.
    "The (oil) minister has just expelled the president of Petrodar," said Pagan Amum, South Sudan's top negotiator for talks with Sudan over oil payments.
    "I think one of the reasons is lack of cooperation by the President of Petrodar (with the government) and we have dismissed him and expelled him and we are asking the partners to appoint a new president," he told Reuters during a visit to the Palouge oil field.
    Amum said relations with China were good but there were difficulties with some oil companies.
    In a letter to Petrodar, South Sudan's government accused Petrodar of resisting relocating its headquarters from Khartoum to Juba and for not transferring Sudan's state-owned shares in Petrodar to South Sudan.
    It said Petrodar paid for oil assets located in the rump Sudan with the South's portion of oil revenues and assisted Sudan in illegally loading South Sudan's oil onto ships and lacked cooperation in the implementation of the oil shutdown.
    South Sudan's minister of Petroleum and Mining, Stephen Dhieu Dau, warned Geneva-based oil dealer Trafigura risked losing any future business with the South.
    "If they are the ones that bought the crude with the knowledge that the crude or commodity is stolen, and they went and agreed with Sudan, then it has spoiled any future relations or transactions with us," Dhieu Dau said.
    A 600,000 barrel tanker, the Ratna Shradha, has been stranded off Japan for the past week waiting permission to dock because of uncertainty surrounding ownership of the oil, shipping and traders sources have said.
    Dau said the shipper is willing to cooperate with South Sudan's legal attempt to reclaim the oil.
    "They said they don't want to be part of the stolen resources of South Sudan so they went out to clear their path by depositing the money into the court, then the two parties, the government of Sudan and the republic of South Sudan, will go to court and present the related documents," Dau said.
    Petrodar is a consortium of mainly Chinese state firms Sinopec, Chinese National Petroleum Corp and Malaysia's Petronas. It runs oil fields in South Sudan's Upper Nile state, to which Palouge belongs, and also an export pipeline through Sudan.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register