São Paulo – Sudan wants to attract investment and engage in technical cooperation for oil and gas with Brazil. This was one of the main items discussed during the visit of a delegation led by the Sudanese minister of Petroleum, Awad Eljazz. The Sudanese delegates attended a seminar this Tuesday (27th) at the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, in São Paulo.
“We have several oil-related projects,” said Eljazz. “We had a meeting with Petrobras in which we had good technical discussions,” said the minister. Azhari Abdalla, the director general for Exploration at the Sudanese Ministry of Petroleum, said the meeting took place last Monday in Rio de Janeiro with representatives of the Brazilian oil company.
“We discussed potential oil and gas exploration projects, in particular offshore exploration in Sudan’s Red Sea. We gave them technical specifications of the blocks and they showed interest. We made a point of exchanging further information, and we also invited them to go to Sudan,” said Abdallah.
He said 60% of Sudan’s oil and gas potential is yet untapped, and that “out of three wells drilled, two are successful.” According to the executive, Sudan produces 120,000 barrels of oil per day, and has a reserve of 200 million barrels that will start being explored in 2013.
Michel Alaby, the Arab Brazilian Chamber CEO, said that in 2011 Brazil exported US$ 97.4 million worth of goods to Sudan, mostly sugar. “In South America, Brazil is Sudan’s leading trade partner,” he said.
The sugar industry was another highlight at the seminar. Mohamed El Tegani, the managing director for the Kenana Sugar Company, the largest sugar and ethanol group in Sudan, said his company makes 400,000 tonnes of white sugar per year, and 200,000 litres of ethanol per day.
“We grow cane, we make sugar, ethanol, we generate electricity, we make animal feed, dairy, several products. Kenana’s portfolio is highly diverse and we have five megaprojects that we want to attract Brazilian investors into,” he said.
Regarding Sudan’s economic scenario, Magdi Yassin, the vice minister of Finance and National Economy, said that in the last few years, the country’s GDP had been growing by 5%, but the separation of Sudan and South Sudan in 2011 should cause the economy to slow down this year.
“It has affected our revenues directly,” said Yassin. “Now, the government has implemented a stabilization program to minimize the impact the separation had on the country. As a result, we are hoping for 2% to 3% growth in 2013.”
“We mean to attract foreign direct investment and to encourage the private sector so that it will play a major role in Sudan’s growth,” said Yassin. “In August, we signed an agreement for good relations with South Sudan, allowing for Southern oil to pass through the North’s pipelines.”
Salim Taufic Schahin, the Arab Brazilian Chamber president, emphasized the importance of the seminar to integration between Brazilian and Arab businessmen. “The Arab Brazilian Chamber is encouraging more and more Brazilian companies to take advantage of the closer ties between Brazil and African countries, and between Brazil and Arab countries. Sudan is an African Arab country, and we are really keen on improving these relations ever further.”
Financing
The Sudanese mission also discussed financing to sales of Brazilian machinery and equipment to Sudan. “We have paved the way to financing. There was a minor outstanding debt from a Sudanese company and we settled it in Brasília,” said Eljazz. “We have also discussed having banking relations to make transfers easier between Sudan and Brazil,” said the minister.
The meetings to clear the debt and make financing available took place at the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters and at the Brazilian Development Bank. According to Tegani, of Kenana, the debt dated back to the 1970s and was contracted by a Sudanese company; at current values, it amounts to roughly US$ 4 million.
“It (the negotiation of the debt) will enable a major financing program for Brazilian companies to export equipment to Sudan,” said Tegani. According to the Sudanese delegation, financing for Brazilian exports to Sudan should be made available by February 2013.
The Sudanese delegation also attended meetings at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Mines and Energy, in Brasília; at the National Petroleum Agency (ANP), in Rio; and at the Local Ethanol Production Arrangement (Apla), in Piracicaba, state of São Paulo. The meetings were also attended by the Sudanese ambassador to Brasília, Abd Elghani Elkarim.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
