Greater Nile Petroleum to spend $700 mln in Sudan

KUALA LUMPUR, June 15 (Reuters) – An upstream oil conglomerate operating in Sudan plans to spend $200 million on exploration and development in addition to $500 million on production in 2005, industry sources said on Tuesday.

Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company Limited (GNPOC), a joint venture of four companies, will produce 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) at the Adar/Yale onshore fields in Central Sudan, which will raise output at the North African country to 500,000 bpd.

“Next year, there will be an additional output of 200,000 bpd. Now, GNPOC’s output is 300,000 bpd,” one source said.

Sudan’s oil minister had said last September he expected oil exports from Africa’s largest country to reach 600,000 bpd by 2005.

China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), parent of PetroChina, has a 40 percent stake, while Malaysia’s Petronas has a 30 percent stake in GNPOC.

India’s state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) holds a 25 percent stake and Sudanese state oil firm Sudapet has the remainder.