| Total to resume South Sudan oil exploration after 27 years | Send to a friend |
| Sunday, 05 February 2012 11:34 |
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Total holds a 32.5 per cent share of Block B, which is located in Jonglei State, near the Ethiopian border.The company signed an exploration and production sharing agreement for the concession in 1980, but suspended operations in 1985 as insecurity in the region escalated due to the civil war, according to Total's website. Total maintained its rights through a moratorium that was renewed annually.South Sudan's chief negotiator Pagan Amum said on Tuesday Total had committed to begin exploring for oil soon in Jonglei state.Any oil found in the Block B concession could feed a pipeline the company may build from South Sudan to Uganda and on to Kenya's coast. Meanwhile, businesses in South Sudan have been hit by a biting shortage of dollars following the shut-down of more than half of the country’s oil wells, the main foreign currency earner. Commercial banks with operations in South Sudan have benefited in recent years from the heavy use of dollars in the newly independent country.The shortage has also slowed trade, which is done in dollars. Traders selling goods such as roofing materials, cement, petroleum products, vegetable oil,milk, and other goods have been hit hardest. “The dollar shortage has caused queues in commercial banks, which have to take clients’ applications to the Bank of Sudan, a process that is taking too long,” said Mr Martin Oduor Otieno, the chief executive of Kenya Commercial Bank. (Agencies) Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           |
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