SOUTH SUDAN: South Sudan resumes pumping oil 16 months after it shut down production in a row with Sudan over pipeline fees

Record ID: 344322

  • Title: SOUTH SUDAN: South Sudan resumes pumping oil 16 months after it shut down production in a row with Sudan over pipeline fees
  • Date: 7th May 2013
  • Summary: PALOUGE OIL FIELD, SOUTH SUDAN (MAY 5, 2013) (REUTERS) SOUTH SUDAN OIL MINISTER STEPHEN DHIEU DAU AND PIL WORKERS STEPS OVER A SACRIFICIAL COW IN CEREMONY TO MARK THE RESUMPTION OF PUMPING OIL AT OIL FACILITY VARIOUS OF DHIEU DAU AND WORKERS WALK THROUGH OIL FACILITY DHIEU DAU SWITCHES ON OIL SMOKE RISES FROM OIL FACILITY (SOUNDBITE) (English) SOUTH SUDAN OIL MINISTER STEPHEN DHIEU DAU SAYING: "This represents a really great day for the people of South Sudan. The official launching of the production resumption in Palouge oil field and we will be pushing the oil from South Sudan into the pipeline in Sudan within two weeks." OUTSIDE OIL FACILITY CHINESE OIL WORKERS POSE ON OIL PLATFORM NEXT TO OIL SWITCH-ON BUTTON SWITCH SHOWS OIL FLOWING (SOUNDBITE) (English) JOSEPH PODTUNG, PRESIDENT OF DAR PETROLEUM, SAYING: "We will be starting at around 125,000 barrels. Within a month we should be reaching 165,000-180,000 barrels (of oil per day) and we would expect to reach the level where we were before the shutdown by early next year." PALOUGE OIL FIELD, SOUTH SUDAN (MAY 07, 2013) (REUTERS) ZACHARIA DENG AKOL FROM THE SUDD INSTITUTE, A SOUTH SUDANESE THINK-TANK, SITS AT A TABLE IN A CAFE (SOUNDBITE) (English) ZACHARIA DENG AKOL FROM THE SUDD INSTITUTE, A SOUTH SUDANESE THINK-TANK SAYING: "I came back from Northern Bahr el Ghazal state last week and I saw there that trucks have started coming into the states bordering Sudan so the dollar on the market here in Juba, the price of the dollar against South Sudanese Pounds, has gone down. Whether that is due to speculation if it is due to lack of sufficient local currency on the local market, we don't know." PALOUGE OIL FIELD, SOUTH SUDAN (MAY 5, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF WOMEN DANCING AND SINGING TO DRUMS SOUTH SUDAN FLAG / PEOPLE DANCING
  • Embargoed: 22nd May 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Sudan
  • Country: South Sudan
  • Topics: Industry,Energy
  • Reuters ID: LVADFM5FQCNX3PS0HBYUHHVE25L0
  • Story Text: After a 16-month shutdown that badly hobbled South Sudan's economy, the African nation is restarting oil production in its main field.
    The landlocked nation reached an agreement with long-time foe Sudan in March to resume pumping of the south's oil.
    A year ago the two countries, which split in July 2011, fought tense battles on their border and came close to all-out war, but old hostilities have eased in the last two months.
    "This represents a really great day for the people of South Sudan. The official launching of the production resumption in Palouge oil field and we will be pushing the oil from South Sudan into the pipeline in Sudan within two weeks," said South Sudan oil minister Stephen Dhieu Dau.
    Before the shutdown the young government relied on oil receipts for 98 percent of their revenues. The shutdown sparked inflation and a sharp depreciation of the local currency, but since the agreement the South Sudan Pound has regained some ground against the dollar.
    Dhieu Dau said they would be pushing oil from South Sudan into the pipeline in Sudan within two weeks.
    "We will be starting at around 125,000 barrels. Within a month we should be reaching 165,000-180,000 barrels (of oil per day) and we would expect to reach the level where we were before the shutdown by early next year," said Joseph Podtung, head of Dar petroleum.
    The finance minister says petrodollars will start arriving as early as July but analysts say there could already be impact on the value of the South Sudan pound.
    "I came back from Northern Bahr el Ghazal state last week and I saw there that trucks have started coming into the states bordering Sudan so the dollar on the market here in Juba, the price of the dollar against South Sudanese Pounds, has gone down. Whether that is due to speculation... if it is due to lack of sufficient local currency on the local market, we don't know," said Zacharia Deng Akol from Sudd Institute, a South Sudanese think-tank.
    The oil-rich but impoverished nation is trying to shake off decades of civil war and underdevelopment that have left it among the poorest countries on the planet.
    Barely a quarter of people can read, and there is only 300 km of paved roads for a country the size of France.
    Last year South Sudan's President accused his ministers of stealing $4 billion since the end of the civil war in 2005. With the oil flowing once more, many hope the revenues will be spent more wisely than before.
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