Sudan hopes to join OPEC soon – minister

June 16, 2006 (LONDON) — Sudan’s Energy and Mining Minister Awad Ahmad al-Jaz has said he hopes his country will be able to join the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries soon, Arab Oil and Gas reported Friday.

“I hope we will be able to join OPEC in the near future,” al-Jaz said in an interview with the monthly publication.

“We are a beginner in the oil industry. I think we have a lot to learn within this organization as we will be able to take advantage of the experience of countries that have been oil producers and exporters for a long time and play a key role in the world market,” al-Jaz added.

Nigeria, Africa’s only OPEC member and current holder of the group’s presidency, has invited Angola and Sudan to join at a time when the 11-nation oil producer group has seen its ability to influence oil prices greatly diminished by its lack of spare oil production capacity.

The expansion of the producer group would give OPEC more sway in managing the amount of oil supplies available to global markets through its production quota system, although oil analysts warn that the group faces wider internal turmoil when the price of crude oil falls and countries have to reduce individual output quotas.

OPEC currently accounts for about 42% of global oil production, down from a peak of 55% in 1974, although oil analysts believe the producer group’s share will rise to around 50% over the next decade or two because of lackluster non-OPEC oil production growth.

Sudan plans to raise its oil output to 500,000 barrels a day “in the next few weeks” from around 360,000 b/d now, al-Jaz said.

He added that negotiations for three new exploration blocks – 14, 17 and 12A – have been completed and could be signed shortly.

(ST)