Sudan proceeds with official notification to oil companies on shutdown
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June 11, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s minister of oil, Awad Ahmed Al-jaz,
has handed over official letters to oil companies operating in
transfer and export of South Sudan’s oil through Sudanese territories
ordering them to stop transfer and export operations of the southern
oil within 60 days starting on June 9, 2013.
JPEG - 32.9 kb
Oil mining employees walk near the first well to restart production in
the Thar Jath field in Unity state on April 6, 2013 (HANNAH
MCNEISH/AFP/Getty Images)
"Due to the breaches of the Republic of South Sudan to the Cooperation
Agreements signed between the two countries, The Government of Sudan
has deiced to suspend effective 9th June, 2013 the said agreements and
to shut down the processing and transportation operations for oil
received from South Sudan," said the letter seen by Sudan Tribune and
signed by Al-jaz.
"In order to protect the facilities and to avoid any environmental
hazards in the two countries, the shutdown shall be safely and
smoothly carried out during a period of sixty days from the date of
this letter" it added.
Operating companies which received the letters include Greater Nile
Petroleum Operating Company (GNPOC), Petrodar Operating Company (PDOC)
which is comprised of several foreign companies including the
Malaysian national oil company Petronas, the Chinese China National
Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), and the Indian Oil and Natural Gas
Corporation (ONGC).
"Accordingly you are required to instruct the respective operating
companies to submit their shut down execution plans and schedules for
the Government’s approval within seven days from the date of this
letter".
The letter were handed during a meeting held at Sudan’s oil ministry
headquarters and included Sudan’s oil minister, the foreign partners,
and directors and deputy-directors of the oil companies.
Separately the Sudanese foreign ministry formally notified Juba of its decision.
"We would like to inform you that the Ministry of Petroleum will shut
down the processing and transportation facilities in Sudan for the oil
received from South Sudan," read a letter sent from the Sudanese oil
ministry to its South Sudanese counterpart according to Reuters.
Last Saturday Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir ordered the
closure of all pipelines carrying oil from South Sudan. He told a
public rally in the capital Khartoum that the move was in response to
South Sudan’s funding of rebels fighting his government.
"O’ Awad [oil minister] tomorrow direct oil companies to close the
pipeline and after that let them [South Sudan] take it via Kenya or
Djibouti or wherever they want to take it", the Sudanese president
said.
"The oil of South Sudan will not pass through Sudan ever again," Bashir added.
The Sudanese president said the decision was taken after thorough
study to examine its advantages and drawbacks.
Al-Jaz, who briefed foreign partners on the cooperation agreements
between Sudan and South Sudan, stressed that the two countries agreed
to implement them as a package but South Sudan has shown lack of
seriousness on implementing the security arrangements agreement which
is considered the main pillar for implementing the rest of the
agreements.
The deputy director of the GNPOC, Azhari Abd Al-Gadir, for his part,
asserted that stoppage would neither impact the environment negatively
nor damages the pipeline which would continue to transfer Sudan’s oil,
saying that GNPOC is ready to deal with the decision and learn from
its successful previous experience when South Sudan abruptly shut down
its oil production.
The PDOC deputy director for oil operations, Mahmoud Mohamed Abd
Al-Rahman, said that his company would implement the decision in
coordination with Dar Petroleum Company which produces oil in South
Sudan, pointing to the technical processes which should be applied in
such circumstances.
The African country, which seceded from Khartoum in 2011 under a peace
deal ending decades of civil war, produce around 300,000 bpd until its
first shutdown in January 2012 in a row with Sudan over pipeline fees.
Oil used to be the main source for Sudan’s budget until southern
secession in July 2011, when Khartoum lost 75 percent of its oil
production and its status as oil exporter overnight.
Diplomats speaking to Reuters doubt Sudan will actually close the two
cross-border export pipelines because its economy has been suffering
without South Sudan’s pipeline fees.
(ST)
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