RSF extracts transit fees as Heglig oil output reaches 26,000 bpd
September 27, 2026 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces is collecting around $4 per barrel on crude pumped from landlocked South Sudan in exchange for allowing pipeline transit across territory under its control, oil industry sources told Sudan Tribune.
Under a tripartite arrangement involving Juba, Khartoum, and the RSF, South Sudan now pays the paramilitary group $4 per barrel, leaving $7 per barrel for the Sudanese government from the original $11 transit tariff agreed before the civil war, the sources said.
The RSF took control of the Heglig area on Dec. 8, 2025, following a military withdrawal, later declaring full control over the strategic zone containing one of Sudan’s primary oilfields.
Output from the Heglig fields currently stands at about 26,000 barrels per day (bpd), the sources added.
South Sudan deducts payments to the paramilitary force directly from the revenue allocation historically designated for Khartoum under pre-war cross-border transit deals.
Former Sudanese oil minister Adel Ali Ibrahim told Sudan Tribune that all crude pumped from Heglig is sent directly for export via the pipeline shared with South Sudan and its partners for sale on global markets.
However, Ibrahim noted that receipts from these sales do not appear in revenue disclosures published by the Central Bank of Sudan, raising questions about the transparency of the funds.
The complete export of Heglig crude followed the shutdown of the Al-Jaili refinery near Khartoum, which ceased operations shortly after fighting broke out between the army and the RSF in April 2023.
Data from the former minister showed the Petco pipeline transported an average of 60,000 to 65,000 bpd in 2025 from South Sudanese fields, including Unity, Manga, Toma South, El Toor, El Nar, and Thar Jath. The same line carried an average of roughly 22,000 bpd of Sudanese output from the Heglig and Bamboo fields.
The Bapco pipeline, formerly Petrodar, carried between 100,000 and 106,000 bpd of South Sudanese crude before a major rupture halted operations, though technical teams repaired the fault and restored flows later that month, Ibrahim said.