Sudan oil output will double by end 2006 to 1M B/D – president

Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir with ex-President Gaafar Nimeiri and Hassan Turabi among others during the inauguration of an oil pipeline on Monday May 31, 1999, in Heglig, central Sudan. (AP) .

Nov 28, 2005 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan’s oil production will double to 1 million barrels a day by the end of 2006, President Omar al-Bashir said Monday.

In a speech broadcast live on state media, al-Bashir said an intense search for oil in north, east and central Sudan was proving to be very rewarding. Sudan currently produces 500,000 b/d of oil.

“The year 2006 will see new discoveries of oil,” al-Bashir said.

“Our production will reach 600,000 b/d by the beginning of the second half of the year, and we are optimistic that this figure will be surpassed and output will be 100% higher than current production” by the end of 2006.

Sudan’s current oil fields lie mainly in the region bordering its central and southern provinces. They were one of the points of contention in the more than 20-year civil war that ended in January. Southerners feared they weren’t going to get their fair share of oil revenue from the government in the north.

(AP/ST)