Sudan will continue to allow passage of South Sudan’s oil exports

September 03, 2013 | Economy, Pipelines

The presidents of Sudan and South Sudan, Omar al-Bashir and Salva Kiir in Khartoum

The presidents of Sudan and South Sudan, Omar al-Bashir and Salva Kiir in Khartoum

Khartoum – Sudan will continue to allow South Sudan to export its oil through northern pipelines and Port Sudan port, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said on Tuesday.

“The agreements we signed call for the transport of South Sudan’s oil through Sudan’s facilities and ports,” Bashir said at a meeting with South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir.

Sudan’s deadline to close the pipelines will expire on September 6. Sudan extended the deadline for two weeks from August 22 following pressures from the African Union and China — the largest player in both Sudan’s and South Sudan’s oil industries.

“There is a new spirit. The oil will flow,” Stephen Dhieu Dau, South Sudan’s minister of petroleum and mining, told Miraya FM, a UN-sponsored Radio Station in the South Sudanese capital of Juba on Tuesday.

Dau made the remark before President Salva Kiir on Tuesday led a big delegation, comprising 10 cabinet ministers and businessmen, to the Sudanese capital Khartoum to hold talks with Sudanese leaders on a range of issues, including continued flow of oil, security, trade and the status of the oil-producing region of Abyei.

“The two countries are moving forward to resolve these issues. It is in the interests of the two countries to keep the oil flowing. The oil is important for the economy of both Sudan and South Sudan. The two countries must move forward,” said Dau, who is part of the delegation to Khartoum.

Sudan is threatening to shut down the pipelines unless South Sudan, with a potential capacity to produce 350,000 b/d, stops supporting rebels seeking to topple the government of President Omar al Bashir.

South Sudan, which split from Sudan, taking with it the majority of the later state’s oil revenues, denied the accusations.

South Sudan’s foreign minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin, who is part of the delegation, told journalists on Monday that Kiir was responding to an invitation by President al Bashir to visit Khartoum to discuss outstanding security and economic-related issues. “He [al Bashir] must now be brave to tackle the outstanding issues,” Benjamin said.

1 thought on “Sudan will continue to allow passage of South Sudan’s oil exports

  1. East Coast

    A welcome development. Its time for the sudanese people to resolve their differences and stop allowing oil hawks from across the atlantic setting them against each other and carting away their oil. Shine your eyes Bashir and Kiir. They are there because of your oil. Stop being foolish guys.

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