ETHIOPIA: Sudan agrees to release ships carrying cargos of crude from South Sudan in a bid to help the two states agree on a deal over oil revenues

Record ID: 344159

  • Title: ETHIOPIA: Sudan agrees to release ships carrying cargos of crude from South Sudan in a bid to help the two states agree on a deal over oil revenues
  • Date: 29th January 2012
  • Summary: ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA (JANUARY 28, 2012) (REUTERS) SUDAN NEGOTIATORS WALKING IN HALLWAY SUDAN NEGOTIATORS WALKING TO PODIUM JOURNALISTS LISTENING TO SUDAN NEGOTIATORS (SOUNDBITE) (English) SUDAN NEGOTIATION TEAM SPOKESMAN, SAID EL-KHATIB, SAYING: "As far as the government of Sudan is concerned immediately the decision has been conveyed, the vessels are going to know as soon as possible that they are free to leave." JOURNALISTS TAKING NOTES (SOUNDBITE) (English) SUDAN NEGOTIATION TEAM SPOKESMAN, SAID EL-KHATIB, SAYING: "If it is proven that we have taken one barrel more than equivalent in kind of what we think is our due then again that is something we should be held responsible for." JOURNALISTS LISTENING TO SUDANESE NEGOTIATORS
  • Embargoed: 13th February 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ethiopia, Ethiopia
  • Country: Ethiopia
  • Topics: International Relations,Economy,Politics,Energy
  • Reuters ID: LVABESQ34YMU9PLVB05HLX179C81
  • Story Text: Sudan said on Saturday (January 28) ys it will free ships carrying cargos of crude it seized from neighbouring South Sudan to ease tensions between the two countries and smooth negotiations on an oil revenue deal.
    Sayed El-Khatib, deputy head of negotiating team, made the announcement in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia:
    "As far as the government of Sudan is concerned immediately the decision has been conveyed, the vessels are going to know as soon as possible that they are free to leave," El-Khatib said.
    South Sudan said on Monday it had started shutting down oil production after accusing Sudan of seizing $815 million worth of crude. The move escalated an increasingly bitter row over oil revenues between the former civil war foes.
    "If it is proven that we have taken one barrel more than equivalent in kind of what we think is our due then again that is something we should be held responsible for," said El-Khatib South Sudan's top negotiator said on Friday his country would complete the shutdown by Saturday, after Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and South Sudan's President Salva Kiir met on the sidelines of a meeting of East African officials in Ethiopia.
    South Sudan became independent in July under a 2005 peace agreement with Khartoum that ended decades of civil war but both sides have failed to agree how to untangle their oil industries.
    The new landlocked nation needs to use a northern pipeline and the port of Port Sudan to export its crude but has failed to reach an agreement with Khartoum over a transit fee, prompting Sudan to start seizing oil as compensation.
    Officials said in November South Sudan was producing about 350,000 barrels of oil per day.
    China is the biggest buyer of oil from the two countries, some 12.99 million barrels last year. That amounted to five percent of last year's crude imports by China, which is also the top investor in South Sudan's oilfields.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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