Khartoum to receive $183m from South Sudan oil companies

July 19, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese government and oil companies operating in South Sudanese oilfields have reached on Saturday an agreement whereby Khartoum will receive $183 million within two weeks from the oil companies in exchange for carrying oil through Sudanese territory.

On 28 June, Sudan’s government and companies operating in transportation of crude oil from South Sudan’s oilfields (blocks number 3 and 7) signed a framework agreement which allows Sudan to receive $366 million annually.

The oil companies agreed to pay $4 as transit fees instead of $1 besides agreeing to raise the barrel’s tariff from $5.5 to $19.8 for three years beginning from June 2013.

The two sides in a deal signed Saturday agreed that oil companies will pay $183 million within two weeks from the date of signing as settlement of its debt until June 2013.

The amount paid by each oil company was determined according to its shares in oil production.

Sudan’s oil minister, Mekkawi Mohamed Awad, predicted that the agreement would increase the government’s revenues from foreign exchange.

The oil ministry’s undersecretary, Awad Al-Karim Mohamed Khair, said the agreement detailed controls, payment systems, and entitlements of each company.

The oil companies’ shares include China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) with %41, Malaysian oil and gas company, Petronas with $40, Al-Kharafi group with %5, Thani pet with %5, and Sudan National Petroleum Corporation, Sudapet with %8.

Khair said the deal implementation will begin next September and lasts until the end of 2017, adding the government will own %95 of the pipeline by the end of the program while %5 will go to the oil companies.

Oil used to be the main source for Sudan’s budget until southern secession in July 2011, when Khartoum lost 75 percent of its oil production and its status as oil exporter overnight.

(ST)