News Article by REUTERS posted on November 12, 2000 at 15:07:53: EST (-5 GMT)
Sudan signs new oil exploration deal - paper
KHARTOUM, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Sudan has signed an oil
exploration
agreement with several local and international
companies for an area in
central Sudan, the government-owned
Al-Anbaa newspaper reported on Sunday.
"Sudan has signed a production agreement...covering
prospecting,
development and transportation of oil with Gulf oil
companies, the Chinese
National Petroleum Corp, Al Than and
Sudapet," the daily said.
Al Than and Sudapet are Sudanese firms. The newspaper did
not specifiy
which Gulf companies were involved.
Al-Anbaa said the agreement covered a 75-square-km area on
the western
bank of the White Nile, south of the town of Rabak,
about 275 km (170 miles)
south of Khartoum.
The Gulf companies hold a 46 percent stake in the
investment, the Chinese
company has 23 percent, Al Than also has
23 percent and Sudapet holds eight
percent. The newspaper gave
no other details about the terms of the contract.
Sudan, which produces about 185,000 barrels per day of crude
oil, began
crude exports in August 1999. It had previously been
importing oil and oil
products for about $300 million a year,
eating up most of its export
earnings.