São Paulo – The Sudanese government has authorized international companies which drill for oil in South Sudan to go on transporting the product using the former’s pipelines. The decision was made by Sudan’s president Omar Al-Bashir following a meeting with his South Sudanese counterpart, Salva Kiir Mayardit, according to the news agency Panapress.
The ruling puts off the Sudanese government’s threats of blocking oil transport through its territory, made last Friday (6th). The Sudanese minister of Petroleum met last Thursday (5th) with multinational corporations’ officials to brief them on how to proceed. According to the Panapress, South Sudan ships its oil via Sudan to the Red Sea ports, from which the product is exported.
South Sudan became independent from Sudan in 2011. The split was the result of a referendum held after two years of civil war. However, not all tensions have resolved.
One of the controversial issues is precisely oil transportation, seeing as South Sudan has most of the oil reserves – approximately 75% -, but needs to ship the commodity out through Sudanese territory.
Sudan has access to the Red Sea, but South Sudan does not. The two countries, however, derive most their revenues from oil. According to information released by the deputy governor of the Bank of Sudan, Badr Al-Din Mahmoud Abbas, oil transport issues have caused losses of US$ 20 billion.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
