UK oil explorer White Nile strikes deal in Sudan

LONDON, Feb 16 (Reuters) – British based oil exploration firm White Nile, whose shares have soared since listing last week, said on Wednesday it had sealed a deal in southern Sudan to benefit from a recent peace agreement.

White Nile said it had acquired a 60 percent stake in the 67,500 square km Block Ba, which contains part of the key Muglad Basin production area, from the Government of South Sudan.

Shares in White Nile were suspended pending more information about the deal. The shares had jumped to 137 pence by Tuesday’s close, after being introduced at 10p when they floated on London’s junior stock market AIM last Thursday.

White Nile raised 9 million pounds before its listing, but the surge in its shares has lifted its market value to over 210 million pounds.

“The anticipation for them to find something quite exciting in south Sudan triggered the rise,” a dealer said.

White Nile, whose shareholders include former England cricketer Phil Edmonds, declined to comment but said in its brief statement on Wednesday it planned to release more information on the deal by the end of the week.

Sudan’s oil production, currently about 320,000 barrels per day, comes mainly from fields in the south, with Chinese, Malaysian and Indian firms the big investors.

White Nile’s deal follows last month’s peace accord between the government in Khartoum and rebels to end a 21-year civil conflict which killed 2 million people and uprooted 4 million others.