Sudan minister aims for 500,000 bpd output in 2005

AMSTERDAM, May 23 (Reuters) – Sudan plans to raise its oil output to 500,000 barrels per day in 2005, Oil Minister Awad Ahmed El-Jaz said on Sunday. “Now we are producing 300,000 barrels per day and we export most of that,” the minister said. “We plan to raise production to 500,000 bpd next year.”

Jaz, attending an energy producers/consumers forum, said he also planned to sharply increase the capacity of Sudan’s two refineries.

Capacity at the capital Khartoum’s refinery will increase from 70,000 barrels per day to 100,000 bpd next year and the Port Sudan plant will go from 25,000 bpd to 100,000 bpd in the same period.

India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC.BO) in March won a tender to refurbish Port Sudan.

Sudan is touting for foreign investment for its energy sector as negotiations continue to solve two decades of a crippling civil war. The United States is also considering changing Sudan’s status on a blacklist of nations it says are not cooperating with its strategy to combat Islamic militants.

A seperate conflict has raged for more than a year in the west of the country.

The minister said Sudan was also tendering for companies to build a 1,500 internal oil pipeline. European companies had showm interest, he said.

(Reporting by Anna Mudeva, Amsterdam newsroom +3120 504 5003).