European Coalition for Oil in Sudan (ECOS)
Oil. Fuel for a better Sudan?
Northern Sudanese Oil Workers Expelled From South Will Return in 24 Hours
Northern Sudanese workers who were expelled yesterday from oilfields in Southern Sudan’s Unity state will return to the region within 24 hours, the Sudanese oil ministry said.
“After high-level communication, the problem was solved,” Omer Mohamed Kheir, the Sudanese Oil Ministry secretary-general, told reporters today in Khartoum, the capital. The government of Southern Sudan, which is scheduled to become independent on July 9, revoked the expulsion order by the Unity state governor, he said.
At least one oilfield, which produces 10,000 barrels a day, stopped operating because of the expulsions, Kheir said, and the state’s daily output of 84,000 barrels per day may also be affected tomorrow. Southern Sudan accounts for about 75 percent of Sudan’s daily oil production of 490,000 barrels.
The Unity and nearby Heglig fields, which is in the north and where the 150 expelled workers were sent, are operated by the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Co. and 40 percent owned by state-owned China National Petroleum Corp.
The northern workers are necessary to keep Unity state’s oilfields operating, George Odyoro, Malaysia’s Petroliam Nasional Bhd’s liaison officer in the southern capital of Juba, said yesterday. The Malaysian company, known as Petronas, owns a 30 percent stake in Greater Nile.
While foreign workers were also evacuated because of safety concerns, Kheir said, some remained to run a power station in Unity oilfield.
Safety
Unity state’s information minister, Gideon Datpan, said by phone today from the state capital, Bentiu, that the workers were asked to leave for their safety because of fears of retaliation against them due to the alleged support Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir’s government in the north gives the rebels in the area. The government in Khartoum denies the accusations.
The authorities in the northern and southern regions are still negotiating the status of citizens residing in each other’s areas. The expulsion order was the first by either side.
“We were surprised by the decision,” Kheir said. “There are agreements, and decisions should be taken by both sides.”
Southern Sudan’s army clashed on April 19 with insurgents of the South Sudan Liberation Army, which is calling for the overthrow of the government in Juba because of alleged rampant corruption.
Fighting Resumes
Fighting resumed today between the Southern Sudanese army and militias in the Unity state’s Mayom County, Datpan said.
The clashes have not been near the oilfields, Kheir said.
That rebellion is one of a series of conflicts that have overshadowed the region’s preparations for independence. Fighting has killed at least 800 people this year and displaced 93,783 in Southern Sudan, the United Nations said on April 13.
Southern Sudan voted in January to secede from Khartoum in a referendum that was the centerpiece of a peace agreement signed in 2005, ending a two-decade civil war between the Muslim north and the south, where traditional religions and Christianity predominate.