Restoring South Sudan's maximum crude output will take three months

Image Source: bbc.co.uk

South Sudan can restore maximum crude production output from its oilfields in three months. The reduced production output is due to the country’s recent dispute with neighboring Sudan that shut down oilfields.

Petroleum Minister Stephen Dhieu Dau said that an agreement had been forged between the two countries last week to enable the resumption of cross-border oil flows, which will restore South Sudan’s crude oil production back to its fullest capacity of 350,000 barrels a day.

Image Source:  globalwitness.org

Data from the World Bank show that South Sudan is a sub-Saharan country with the third largest oil reserves, next to Nigeria and Angola. As the country is landlocked on all sides, the country exports its gas reserves through Sudan, and disputes over exports between the two countries last year halted all oil production, which effectively halved the size of South Sudan’s economy to just a little more than nine billion dollars.

Mr. Dau believes that in three months, South Sudan’s current crude production output of 170,000 barrels a day will increase to 300,000 barrels a day.

In 2011, South Sudan declared independence from Sudan and took with it three quarters of the previously united country’s crude oil output. Pumped mainly by India’s ONGC, Malaysia’s Petroliam Nasional Bhd, and China National Petroleum Corporation, South Sudan’s crude oil has low sulfur content and are relatively clean-burning, so it is prized by Japanese power-generating companies.

Image Source: gurtong.net

Ali Ghalambor is an expert in natural gas and petroleum production, and has released books that are highly regarded by both petroleum engineers and students. More updates on the petroleum industry can be found at this Facebook page.