South Sudan plans to pump new crude by end of year

By Benjamin Takpiny

JUBA, South Sudan (AA) - South Sudan’s government is planning to pump new crude oil discovered in oil fields in the northern part of the country by the end of the year, said a top official on Monday.

The oil discovered in Adar will be linked to the nearby Paloch oil fields being processed by Dar Petroleum, Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth told Anadolu Agency by phone from the capital, Juba.

“It will start as soon as they finish connectivity, and the production will likely begin towards the end of this year,” Lueth said without giving more details.

“This is a new discovery and hence people will have to do many things in order to do the production. It has to be connected, it needs a pipeline to connect it to the main pipe so that it is operational,” he said.

South Sudan, ruined by war, is trying to recover with a planned unity government with rebels as part of a peace deal to stabilize the country.

With crude production resumed, it has raised output to 180,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 130,000 during the five-year civil war.

About 400,000 people were killed and four million others displaced when President Salva Kiir violently broke off from his former deputy, Riek Machar.

At current oil prices, the government gets $5.5 million a day or more than $165 million a month.