News Article by AFP posted on November 12, 2000 at 15:06:56: EST (-5 GMT)
New oil-producing consortium founded in Sudan
KHARTOUM, Nov 12 (AFP) - Chinese and Arab oil firms have formed
a
joint venture to search for petroleum in southeast Sudan, a
newspaper said
here Sunday.
The Chinese National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), Gulf Oil of
Qatar, and
a United Arab Emirates firm formed a consortium with
Sudan's state-run
Sudapet in a deal signed on Saturday, As-Sahafi
Ad-Dawli daily said.
The consortium will carry out oil operations in a concession
area of 75
square kilometres east of the White Nile in the eastern
parts of Upper Nile
state, it said.
It will develop existing oil fields in Adaryel and explore other
fields in
the concession area, the paper added.
Gulf Oil will hold 46 percent, CNPC and the UAE company 23
percent each,
and Sudapet the remaining eight percent of the shares
of the group, the
newspaper said.
The UAE firm was not named in the report.
CNPC already operates with Petronas of Malaysia, Talisman Energy
of Canada
and Sudapet in the Higleig oil fields in southwest Sudan.
Sudan became an oil exporting country in late August last year,
delivering
mainly to customers in Asia.
Sudanese officials said in May that export capacity was at
around 200,000
barrels per day, putting Sudan far behind such OPEC
countries as Nigeria and
Libya, and even smaller exporters like
Egypt.
Sudan has an estimated three billion barrels of reserves, but
700 million
barrels of proven, recoverable reserves, they said.