A high level delegation from South Sudan has been in Kenya through the
week to initiate negotiations with over rights of passage for the 2,000 kilometre crude oil pipeline the country has decided to build to connect its oil fields to the Kenyan coastal town of Lamu.

South Sudan and Ethiopia’s governments signed a memorandum of understanding to build an oil pipeline via Djibouti, South Sudanese Information Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin said.

The government of South Sudan is in talks with a Texas-based company to explore options for building an oil pipeline which would serve as an alternative to the one passing through the territories of Sudan.

Total SA (FP), France’s biggest oil company, said it plans to resume exploration work in South Sudan’s Block B.

Petrodar Operating Co., an oil- pipeline operator in Sudan, said it has reported production volumes to South Sudan’s government “accurately and transparently” since beginning output in 2006.

President Salva Kiir said on Thursday South Sudan wants to end a row with Sudan over oil transit payments but has rejected a proposal requiring Juba to pay billions of dollars and keep exporting crude through the neighbouring country.

A joint commission is being formed to move plans forward on the pipeline to take South Sudan crude to Kenya’s Port Lamu for export.

Sudan has attributed the failure of the latest round of talks with South Sudan on oil to Juba’s “negative attitude,” accusing its southern neighbors of plotting to topple the government in Khartoum.

Sudan, stepping up its rhetoric, accused South Sudan of "hostility" in their row over oil transit fees and said it would hold Juba responsible for any attack on northern oil facilities, a state-linked news website said on Wednesday.

The government in Khartoum has requested that Petrodar, one of the JV companies responsible for South Sudan production, load 600,000 barrels of South Sudanese crude for export. Petrodar denied Khartoum’s request backing the south’s right to the crude. Petrodar said that it needed the government in South Sudan’s permission to load the crude for export.