Sudan, South Sudan Agree To Resume Oil Production

By Debora Akur Chol, South Sudan

Sudan and South Sudan have agreed to strengthen cooperation on security trade and oil including the resumption of production at key oil fields, following a high-level visit by a South Sudanese delegation to Port Sudan, officials said on Wednesday.

Oil production involving South Sudan was recently suspended after Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized Heglig, Sudan’s largest oil field, amid ongoing fighting with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in the country’s oil-producing south.

Heglig, a border town between Sudan’s West Kordofan State and South Sudan, hosts some of Sudan’s most critical oil infrastructure, including dozens of wells, storage facilities, and processing stations. The field processes between 80,000 and 100,000 barrels of crude per day for both countries.

A key pipeline transporting crude from South Sudan’s Unity oil fields to Port Sudan passes through Heglig, making the area vital to South Sudan’s export revenues and Sudan’s transit fees.

South Sudan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Monday Semaya Kumba, said the visit to Port Sudan was undertaken on the directive of President Salva Kiir Mayardit to reinforce bilateral ties.

Speaking to reporters at Juba International Airport on Wednesday after returning from Sudan, Kumba said the delegation, led by presidential security adviser Tut Gatluak Manime, delivered a written message from Kiir to the Chairman of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

Gatluak later held talks with Burhan focusing on bilateral relations, Kumba added.

The discussions covered economic cooperation, trade and investment, oil, security, and political issues, as well as the situation of citizens from both countries residing across the border. Peace processes in Sudan and South Sudan and the exchange of official visits were also discussed.

During the visit, Gatluak met senior Sudanese officials, including Transitional Sovereign Council Vice President Malik Agar, Prime Minister Kamil Idris, and council member General Shams al-Din Kabashi Ibrahim.

Kumba said the talks also addressed Sudan’s allocation of a free economic and trade zone for South Sudan at Port Sudan, the activation of joint ministerial and economic committees, and the status of citizens in both countries.

In separate meetings, Kumba said he and Sudan’s acting foreign minister agreed to establish a joint mechanism to address bilateral issues and support each other in regional and international forums. He also met Sudan’s interior minister to discuss cooperation between the two ministries.

On oil cooperation, Kumba said a technical delegation led by Petroleum Ministry Undersecretary Chol Thon held talks with Sudan’s petroleum minister and agreed to resume production at the Heglig and Bamboo oil fields.

Both sides committed to continued consultation and coordination, signed minutes of their meetings, and issued a joint statement at the conclusion of the visit, Kumba said.

Relations between conflict-hit Sudan and South Sudan remain closely tied to oil, with landlocked South Sudan relying on Sudan to export more than 90 percent of its oil through pipelines and port facilities on Sudanese territory.