Sudan oil region
Khartoum – Sudan earned at least $230 million in fees for the export of South Sudanese oil this year, official media reported Sunday, days before a Khartoum deadline to shut the pipelines.
“The government of South Sudan sent the fees for oil transportation to the Sudan Central Bank,” the official SUNA news agency quoted the bank’s assistant governor, Azhari al-Tayeb al-Faki, as saying.
The documented amount is $236 million, SUNA said.
That figure covers fees for transporting South Sudanese oil to the Port Sudan export terminal, as well a package to compensate Khartoum for the loss of oil when South Sudan separated, SUNA said.
The South became independent two years ago, taking with it about 75 percent of united Sudan’s oil production.
Oil refineries and export pipelines stayed under Sudan’s jurisdiction but the two sides could not agree on how much the South should pay for using that infrastructure.
South Sudan’s government in Juba halted oil production early last year, accusing Khartoum of theft, but pumping resumed in April after relations between the two sides appeared to be improving.
In June, Sudan accused the South of backing rebels on Sudanese soil and abruptly told oil companies they had 60 days to stop transporting the crude.
The deadline has been extended to Sept. 6 while oil continues moving through the pipelines for export.
The fees due to Khartoum, and the export revenues for the South, are potentially worth billions of dollars to both impoverished economies.
