(Bloomberg) -- South Sudan's crude oil exports through Port Sudan have been delayed following Omar Al-Bashir's ouster in neighboring Sudan, Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth said.
Landlocked South Sudan exports all its oil via pipelines across its northern neighbor to Port Sudan on the Red Sea. The nation initially said the crisis had not disrupted the flow from its oilfields.
“The problems in Khartoum, they are in a way affecting this sector because there are certain chemicals that are supposed to be imported via Port Sudan and these are chemicals used for processing the oil,” Lueth told reporters in Juba, South Sudan's capital. “Unfortunately the staff at the oil companies have joined the strike so there is nobody doing the job over there.”
The crisis that stemmed from protests by civilians against rising costs of living has also affected crude processing at Heglig in Sudan, Lueth said.
“We have a lot of oil that should have been lifted by now,” he said. “It's accommodated in Port Sudan and this is another problem that is facing us.”
Sub-Saharan Africa's third-biggest crude producer is revamping production by opening up oilfields that were closed during its own civil-war crisis. Work to resume crude production at Al-Nar, Al-Toor, Manga and Tharjath should meet an April 27 deadline for first oil from the rehabilitated wells, Petroleum Minister Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth said earlier this month.
To contact the reporter on this story: Okech Francis in Juba at fokech@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Malingha at dmalingha@bloomberg.net, Helen Nyambura, Jacqueline Mackenzie
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