Sudan’s oil production to hit 1 million b/d by end-2008: US EIA

Sudan’s oil production to hit 1 million b/d by end-2008: US EIA
377 words
26 April 2007
10:32 am GMT
Platts Commodity News
English
Copyright 2007. Platts. All Rights Reserved.

Oil production in Sudan averaged 414,000 b/d in 2006, up from 363,000 b/d in 2005, and is expected to rise to 1 million b/d by the end of 2008, the US Energy Information Administration said in its latest country analysis.

Sudan contained proven oil reserves of five billion barrels as of January 2007, up from an estimated 563 million barrels in 2006, it said.

Due to civil conflict, oil exploration has mostly been limited to the central and south-central regions of the country. It is estimated that vast potential reserves are held in northwest Sudan, the Blue Nile basin, and the Red Sea area in eastern Sudan.

As of January 2007, combined production from GNPOC-operated fields, the Heglig and Unity fields in blocks 1, 2, and 4, was estimated at 260,000 b/d. The EIA said the blocks contained estimated recoverable reserves of 600 million to 1.2 billion barrels of oil. The GNPOC joint venture is operated by China’s CNPC (40%), with partners Petronas (30%), India’s ONGC (25 %) and Sudapet (5%).

As of January 2007, blocks 3 and 7 combined produced an estimated 165,000 b/d of oil and the fields–Adar Yale and Palogue–could reach peak production of 200,000 b/d by late 2007, the report said.

As of March 2007, production from block 5A stood at 38,000 b/d, while full capacity is estimated at 60,000 b/d.

In November 2004, China’s CNPC brought online its Fula field on block 6 at a rate of 10,000 b/d. Current output on the block is 40,000 b/d, but is expected to eventually reach 80,000 bbl/d, it said.

CNPC has built a pipeline linking the Fula field to the Khartoum refinery.

Sudan’s minister of state for petroleum and minerals, Angelina Teny, said in January said the country had not completely ruled out joining OPEC.

Teny said she was confident the country would establish itself as a significant player, but said there were no immediate plans for making a bid to join OPEC, although it could be a possibility.