S. Sudan steps up efforts to revive full oil production in economic recovery efforts

JUBA – South Sudan is seeking to ramp up oil output and build refining capacity in an enduring effort to revive an economy that has suffered from war and a global pandemic.

Oil production accounting for nearly all government revenue has plummeted and operators of mature fields in the northern Upper Nile region have stopped investment, Bol Ring Mourwel, managing director of state-owned Nile Petroleum Corp., said in an interview.

South Sudan’s oil production has declined by half from almost 200,000 barrels a day in 2014, according to Energy Intelligence Group data.

“The company plans to increase production in Block 5A in Unity State to between 40,000 and 50,000 barrels a day from current levels at about a 10th of that. A feasibility study will also be conducted for a refinery in Paloch to supply regional markets in Ethiopia and Sudan,” he said.

“For now, turning the oil industry around will rely largely on the actions of local participants. We have to get credible companies that can come and invest but due to the war in South Sudan, the potential partners and investors are not able to come here because the stability of this country is not in place,” Mourwel added.