Sudan President forms taskforce to review oil production
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March 13, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan President Omer Al-Bashir has formed
a high-level committee to select a foreign firm to review figures of
oil production in Sudan during the last five years in order to "refute
allegations" of non-transparency in the oil-sector.
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Sudan President Omar Al-Bashir AFP photos
Figures of oil production provided by Sudan have in the past been
brought under question and fuelled mistrust with south Sudan which
produces most of the country’s proven daily output of 500,000 barrels
a day.
North and South Sudan have been splitting proceeds of crude oil
roughly 50:50 as per 2005’s peace deal which ended nearly half a
century of north-south civil war and allowed the south to vote for
secession from the north in a referendum earlier this year. South
Sudan will be declared officially independent in July this year.
The high-level committee would be chaired by the minster of oil Lual
Deng, who represents South Sudan’s ruling party, SPLM, and include as
members the federal auditor and auditor of the South Sudan government.
Its task is to select a "foreign company" to carry out a review of the
oil produced in Sudan from 2005 until December 2010.
Lual Deng told the official SUNA that the President had instructed the
committee to complete its mission before 8 July in order to "achieve
transparency and refute allegations raised by some quarters."
An anti-corruption NGO based in the UK, Global Witness, in September
2009 published a report identifying significant discrepancies between
the oil production figures published by the Sudanese government and
the ones published by the leading oil company operating in the
country, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), saying figures
released by Sudan were smaller by 9% to 26% than those produced by
CNPC.
The same organization this year released another report in which it
urged north and south Sudan to strike a new oil-sharing deal which
includes provisions for “transparency, independent monitoring and a
dispute resolution mechanism,” before the south becomes independent in
July.
Separately, Lual said that he had briefed President Al-Bashir on the
currently-active oilfields whose production ranges from 450 to 500
barrels per day, as well as ongoing operations to improve existing
fields and conduct more exploration activities and studies for new
squares.
The minister further revealed ongoing arrangements to contract a
UAE-based company to carry out an assessment of Sudan’s oil reserves.
Sudan said this month that the total net revenues of its oil
production in January reached 461, 43 million US dollars of which
south Sudan will receive 192, 78 million US dollars.
In a related development, the secretary-general of the ministry of oil
in Sudan, Mohamed Omar, said on Sunday that his ministry wants oil
companies to increase production.
He said that the ministry is willing to remove all obstacles facing
oil companies in order to increase oil production and exploration in
the country.
(ST)
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