Sudan’s oil GNPOC struggles to maintain 250,000 bpd output

October 31, 2007 (CAPE TOWN) — Sudan’s Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company (GNPOC) is struggling to maintain its current production of 250,000 barrels per day, an official with the international joint venture said on Wednesday.

“We are struggling to maintain the 250,000 barrel per day (production rate),” Yousif Ahmed, GNPOC vice president, told the Africa Upstream 2007 oil conference in Cape Town. “It is a challenge for us.”

GNPOC, which is owned by a consortium of Chinese, Indian, Malaysian and Sudanese firms, operates a number of oil fields in the impoverished African nation, which has emerged as a key supplier for Asia’s emerging economic giants.

Western firms, however, have tended to avoid the country due to political instability, much of it is related to violence in Sudan’s restive Darfur region.

Sudan produces about 500,000 barrels of oil per day, making it one of the largest producers in Africa.

(Reuters)