Sudan’s oil income reaches 461.43m USD in January
March 7, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The net revenues of Sudan’s oil in January has reached 461.43 million US dollars of which the Government of South Sudan (GoSS) will receive 192.78 million including 47.16 million of the domestically-sold crude oil, state media reported on Monday.
North and South Sudan have been splitting proceeds of crude oil roughly 50-50 under the power sharing protocol of the 2005’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which ended more than two decades of north-south war and provided for the conduct of a referendum on South Sudan independence.
South Sudan voted overwhelmingly for secession from the north in the referendum that took place in January. The region will be declared officially independent in July this year.
Sudan’s official news agency SUNA reported that the acting undersecretary of the Ministry of Oil Mustafa Haoli said in a meeting of the north-south higher committee for monitoring oil revenues that the amount of direct and indirect transfers of oil revenues to South Sudan had reached 183.57 million USD in total.
He further said that the producing states received a share of 22.58 million USD, adding later that the contested area of Abyei received 0.07 million USD.
Most of Sudan’s proven oil production of 500,000 barrels per day comes from oilfields in the south, but the refineries and pipeline infrastructure that carries the oil to export terminals are based in the north. Oil accounts for over 90% of south Sudan’s budget whereas the north derives 40% of its budget from oil revenues. Both sides will need each other’s cooperation to sustain their oil-dependent economies after the referendum.
The accuracy of oil production figures has been a source of mistrust between north and south Sudan.
In September 2009, the UK-based Global Witness organization 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.
(ST)