The Sudanese government said the North is expected to boost its production of oil to 200,000 barrels per day within 3-5 years. The North will boost production in Block 6 and says it made a 'significant' discovery in Block 7.

A Chinese oil worker who was kidnapped in Sudan’s state of South Kordofan on November 26 was released the next day, according to the Chinese embassy in Khartoum.

Next January the people of southern Sudan will vote in a referendum to decide whether or not to separate from the north. An independent southern Sudan would leave the Khartoum government without its main bread earner: almost 500,000 barrels of crude oil daily. Since most of Sudan's oil lies in the south, this raises the question of how the north would survive without the billions of dollars of annual revenue that oil brings in.

The oil production from fields in North Sudan will reach 110,000 barrels per day (bpd) by the end of 2010, an official at the oil ministry said on Sunday. The remarks come amid raging fears on the impact of the likely South Sudan breakup on the economy of the North.

A German human rights organization is pleading for action to save the Sudd, one of the world largest swamplands, located in southern Sudan, which the group says is threatened by oil extraction activities.

A German church-backed human rights organization is pleading for action to save the Sudd, one of the world largest swamplands, located in southern Sudan, which the group says is threatened by oil extraction activities.

Minister of oil Lual Deng invited national oil companies to intensify oil production in block 6 to reach a total production of a million barrels per day in the future.

The former U.S. special envoy to Sudan under President Bush today assailed the Obama administration saying they had allowed Khartoum to get off the hook despite numerous violations it has committed in the South and Darfur. "But other key issues have gone unaddressed. There is no evidence of any progress on the decisive issue of oil-revenue sharing, for instance. Without some acceptable resolution of this thorny issue, war cannot be ruled out," Williamson said. He emphasized that the oil revenue sharing is the most sensitive to the North. "In the end, the oil issue is about money, which makes it solvable. The South can agree to pay a "carrying fee" for oil to be transported over pipelines in the north and loaded onto oil tankers in Port Sudan. There should be room to work out a revenue-sharing deal acceptable (if not preferable) to both sides, with appropriate guarantees and an acceptable lifespan," the former envoy said. He warned that this is an issue that could cause a return of war between North and South.

Southern Sudan is preparing plans to develop its oil industry that don’t include revoking contracts signed by Sudan’s government if it votes to secede in a Jan. 9 referendum, the region’s minister of energy said.

The Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) plans to build three new oil refineries should citizens of the semi-autonomous region choose to secede in the upcoming referendum scheduled for January 9, 2011.