Unity state oil workers put on leave

By Bonifacio Taban Kuich

February 16, 2012 (BENTIU) – 150 local staff and 50 expatriates in South Sudan’s oil fields have been sent home according to the Unity state caretaker minister of environment and natural resources, William Gatjang Gieng told Sudan Tribune on Thursday.

South Sudan halted oil production in January in an escalation of a row with Khartoum over the payment of oil transit fees. Juba claims Khartoum confiscated oil with a market value of US$35 million, in lieu of unpaid, extortionate transit fees of US$33 per barrel.

Unity state is one of South Sudan’s biggest oil producers. The main oil companies in the state are the Greater Nile Petroleum Operation Company (GNPOC) and the White Nile Petroleum Operation Company (WNPOC). Gieng said that the companies have now sent home most of their employees, retaining a skeleton team for maintenance and security.

Gieng said that “some [workers] are in their headquarters like in Juba, and some may be in Khartoum, waiting [for] an agreement to make the oil start again.” He explained that their contracts have not been cancelled, they are considered on leave.

Khartoum and Juba’s negotiations in Ethiopian, mediated by the African Union High-level Implementation Panel, are yet to find a solution.

In 2011 GNPOC sent 35 South Sudanese nationals for training in Khartoum when the Unity state ordered an immediate evacuation of northerner workers in its oil fields; creating job vacancies.

The Unity state government claimed that Khartoum was giving a logistical support to rebels in the state.

(ST)