Total to resume Sudan drilling operations soon

Sept 29, 2005 (KHARTOUM) — Total SA (TOT) representative in the Sudan Nicolas Brunet, stated yesterday that Total would resume explorations activities in the Block Ba in southern Sudan very soon.

Gas flaring at an oil terminal of Eguatu, Warri-South, Niger Delta. (AFP).

Brunet and Bernard Cullet Total’s International Exploration operations Manager held a meeting with Sudanese minister of energy and mining designate, Awad al-Jaz at his office in Khartoum.

“All the Sudanese officials we met even the First Vice President assured that peace and stability are current fact in the South and this will facilitate our activities in the block,” said Brunet at the end of the meeting with the Sudanese minister.

Al Jaz said that Sudan is opened to all serious investors who wish to work in the Sudan, and it is high time to start operations in the block Ba.

In February, U.K. oil minnow White Nile announced it had been awarded a large oil block by South Sudan’s autonomous government. But Total disputes the claim, saying it was previously awarded a license on the same area by Sudan’s central authorities.

The disputed Block Ba, is a 67,000-kilometer tract within Block B, an area the size of Greece thought to contain large reserves of oil.

(ST)