Sudan inaugurates start of seismic survey at North Kordofan oilfield

October 30, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s minister of oil, Awad Ahmed al-Jaz, has inaugurated the seismic survey work in block 11 which is located in north Kordofan on Wednesday.

This came during his inspection tour of the new oil blocks operated by Sudan Energia which is a consortium of companies including Brazil’s Petra Energia, Egypt’s Nile Valley, and Sudan’s Sudapet.

Seismic surveys are used to locate and estimate the size of underground oil and gas reserves. Seismic images are produced by generating, recording and analyzing sound waves that travel through the Earth.

Al-Jaz stressed the need for coordination to complete the exploration and production work, describing Sudan Energia as a model for utilizing the latest technologies to achieve positive results.

He called for learning the lessons from Sudan’s previous experience in oil production, asserting that the economy would only improve through more oil exploration and production.

The deputy director of Sudan Energia, Mohamed Zaid, for his part, affirmed that launching the seismic survey program represents a new challenge for the company as it increases its technical responsibility to cover all oil blocks in which it operates.

Sudan lost 75% of its oil reserves after the southern part of the country became an independent nation in July 2011 denying the north billions of dollars in revenues.

Sudan currently produces 133,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd). The country’s production is stationed mainly in Heglig area and its surroundings as well as western Kordofan.

Following secession of South Sudan, several foreign companies started exploration in new oil fields.

A Saudi company is working in Block 12 which is located in Sudan’s north-western corner near the borders with Libya, and a Canadian company shares exploration with the Sudanese company Sudapet in Block 14.

Sudan Energia is working in Block 18 which is located to the west of the river Nile. Block 11 is located in Kordofan, while Block 9 is located in the Gezira, Khartoum, and River Nile states.

Blocks 13 and 14 are on the coast of the Red sea, while Blocks 19, 22, 21 are inside the red sea. Block 10 is located between Kassala and Al-Gedaref states in eastern Sudan, and Block 8 is located in Sennar state.

(ST)