South Sudan sets terms for Petronas expansion
April 4, 2007 (JUBA) — South Sudan’s government has set new conditions for allowing Malaysian oil company Petronas to extend its operations beyond Unity state, southern Vice-President Riek Machar says.
The Petronas concessions, awarded by the central government before the north and south signed a peace agreement in 2005, include parts of the southern states of Warrap and Jonglei, and Petronas has been seeking access to those areas.
But Machar said this week Petronas would have to employ more southerners, fund an independent study on the environmental impact of its work, change the way it handled community development and abandon the practice of using central government troops for security.
The dispute is part of a tug-of-war between the Khartoum government and the former rebels in the south over control of the south’s oil resources — one of the factors behind a civil war that lasted more than 20 years.
Machar said Petronas officials visited the southern capital, Juba, last week to negotiate access to Warrap state, in the centre of southern Sudan. Salva Kiir, vice-president of Sudan and president of the southern government, had fired the governor of Warrap state for allowing Petronas some initial access, Machar said. Machar said he had visited Petronas operations in other parts of Sudan and seen their plans for Warrap and Jonglei.
“I was not happy with what I saw.… The way they handled the water associated with the oil, the use of chemicals used in exploration and the roads constructed blocking the flow of streams without bridges or culverts is a concern,” he said. “We also have concerns about community development. We want it driven by state authorities, not what we saw, which were just incidents of charity.”
Under the 2005 peace agreement, central government troops are meant to move out of the south by July 9 and Machar said oil field security was no justification for them staying.
“Expansion of oil companies to areas which were controlled by the former rebel movement should not be another way to disguise the redeployment of central government forces,” said Machar.
“I personally think the people of Unity state, and even Upper Nile state, are not enjoying the (peace agreement) as the rest of southern Sudan because central government forces are still deployed in the oil fields in big numbers,” he said.
Petronas is expected to produce some answers to the government’s demands at an April 11 workshop for all local authorities likely to be affected by the oil company.
(Reuters)