Plans by South Sudan to assume control of oil fields from foreign companies, whose contracts expire in 2027, cannot feasibly be realized due to lack of financing and capabilities.
The civil war-ravaged South Sudan’s earlier plan was for the state-owned Nile Petroleum Corp. to take over foreign oil operations when contracts expired, but Bloomberg said it backtracked the plan during a national economic conference.
On its part, OilPrice.com revealed that on the top of the conference agenda was a plan to create an alternative pipeline that would allow land-locked South Sudan a second outlet for getting its oil to market, bypassing Sudan, which is mired in civil war.
While Sudan’s raging war has not yet affected South Sudan’s oil exports, fears are rising that as the conflict continues to intensify, oil will be at risk, the report added.
On Sunday, a drone attack on an open market in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, killed dozens of people as the country’s military and a rival paramilitary group fought for control. President Silver Kirr has over the weekend said the war in Sudan, is wreaking havoc on the region’s economies through a massive influx of refugees.
There are also mounting fears that South Sudan itself could slide back into civil war amid growing anger over the use of the country’s oil revenues.
Recovering from civil war itself, which only ended in 2018 with a shaky power-sharing agreement, South Sudan’s economy has not been stabilized.
Private operators in South Sudan’s oil industry include China’s giant CNPC and Malaysia’s Petronas.
