NAIROBI (Reuters) -South Sudan and Sudan have made progress in restarting pumping from South Sudan through a pipeline running to a port in the neighboring country, South Sudan’s finance minister and the president’s office said .
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
Exports are a crucial source of income for South Sudan and Sudan takes a cut of the oil as a transit fee.
The main pipeline that carries oil from South Sudan through Sudan for export was halted in February due to damage from a war between Sudan’s military and the Rapid Support Forces.
Analysts say the damage is causing serious environmental pollution and that the shutdown has contributed to higher food prices in Sudan, where millions of people are facing extreme hunger.
KEY QUOTES
“Sudanese engineers have made the necessary technical preparations for the resumption of oil production,” South Sudanese President Salva Kiir’s office said in a statement late on Monday after a meeting in Juba between Kiir and Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
“It is expected that engineers from South Sudan will visit Sudan in the coming weeks to familiarize themselves with the readiness of the facilities so that production can be kick-started.”
“There has been a breakthrough and the news about it will become public very soon,” South Sudanese Finance Minister Marial Dongrin Ater said at a news conference late on Monday.
Burhan’s office said the two sides would develop an operational plan to restart oil flows.
CONTEXT
South Sudan’s economy has been under pressure in recent years due to inter-communal violence, with crude oil export revenues declining since the 2013-2018 civil war and more recently export disruptions due to war in neighboring Sudan .
BY THE NUMBERS
South Sudan had been sending about 150,000 barrels of crude oil per day through Sudan for export, according to a formula established when South Sudan gained independence from Khartoum in 2011, which included most oil production.
At its peak before the civil war, crude oil production in South Sudan was 350,000 to 400,000 barrels per day.
