Sudan oil output to double by year’s end

Feb 14, 2006 (DUBAI) — Sudan’s oil output is expected to double from current levels of around 330,000 barrels a day by the end of this year, Oil Ministry and oil executives said Tuesday, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

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) .

The increase in oil production capacity will come with the completion of the Petrodar project in blocks three and seven in southeast Sudan, originally scheduled to come on stream but subject to delays.

Petrodar should start pumping at around 75,000 barrels a day, quickly rising to 125,000 barrels a day and reaching 150,000 barrels a day by the end of 2006, an executive working on the project told Dow Jones.

“It will be good to sustain 150,000 this year,” he said, adding that the crude will likely sell at around dated Brent minus US$7. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

The project’s maximum capacity will be around 300,000 to 350,000 barrels a day, the executive said. He did not specify a timeframe for the launch, saying the entire production and export system was currently undergoing testing.

The oil official said he was hopeful Petrodar production could reach 250,000 barrels a day this year.

(ST/AP)