Turkish company to explore oil in South Kordofan
April 21, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese Ministry of Oil signed on Saturday a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Turkish company Soma Group by which it will grant the latter a concession to begin oil exploration and production in block 23 in the state of South Kordofan.
The director of Soma, Salim Bora, for his part, reiterated his company’s pledge to apply new approaches and bring advanced technological expertise which would contribute to developing Sudan’s oil industry, adding that his company made many success stories in Africa and Europe.
Sudan, which currently pumps 136,000-140,000 barrels per day (bpd), lost three-quarters of its output when South Sudan seceded. The drop in oil, its main source of budget and trade revenues, has thrown its economy into turmoil.
The country had originally planned to reach 180,000 bpd by the end of the 2012, but its major Heglig oilfield was damaged during a brief occupation by South Sudan’s army and border fighting between the two countries last April.
Several oilfields were inaugurated over the last few months in Sudan which added around 20,000 barrels to the daily production.
The state of South Kordofan where block 23 is located has been a war zone since more than a year between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the rebel Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement/ North (SPLM-N).
In a related issue, Al-Jaz announced that an Italian company will begin the rehabilitation and development of Port Sudan refinery in the next few days, saying that this would help Sudan meet the growing demand for petroleum derivatives, stressing that the refinery will be developed to accommodate incoming and outgoing oil products in the near future.
(ST)