140 thE sudan handbookowned firm, Sudapet, with five per cent. The crude oil from these fields,
marketed as ‘Nile Blend’, has a low sulphur content, and fetches a good
price on international markets. However, output has been in decline
since 2005, as a number of the older oilfields mature, dropping from
a peak of 265,000 barrels per day in the third quarter of 2006 to just
180,000 in the first half of 2009.
In April 2006, oil production began rather belatedly in blocks 3 and 7
in the Melut Basin, located deeper in Southern Sudan. This concession
is operated by Petrodar, another consortium led by CNPC (41 per cent)
and Petronas (40 per cent). Its first shipment, carried through a new
pipeline to the export terminal at Port Sudan, was exported in September- However, there were problems with the quality of the oil. One load
was sold off for just US$2 a barrel, at a time when international prices
were closer to US$60 a barrel. Although these difficulties were largely
resolved in 2007, with output above 200,000 barrels per day in 2008–09,
the ‘Dar Blend’ found in this area remains viscous and acidic, trading at
a substantial discount to Nile Blend, especially when global demand is
contracting, as in late 2008.
2006 was a significant year for Sudanese oil production, also marking
the beginning of output from two other, less significant, concession blocks.
Block 6, located in the north of the country, which is majority-owned
and operated by CNPC, saw production rise, by 2008, to an estimated
40,000 barrels per day of ‘Fula Blend’. This oil is very poor quality and is
principally for domestic use, supplying the Al Jeili refinery in Khartoum.
In addition, the Thar Jath oilfield in Block 5A, managed by the White
Nile Petroleum Operating Company (WNPOC) – a consortium led by
Petronas, with Lundin of Sweden, ONGC and Sudapet – began exporting
just over 20,000 barrels per day of oil through the GNPOC pipeline.
There is further oil exploration continuing in various concession
blocks across the country, and optimism has been voiced, at various
times, about the prospects in Petronas’ Block 8; the natural gas poten-
tial of offshore blocks 13 and 15, explored by CNPC; and the massive
Block B, in southern Sudan, managed by Total. However, many of the
The Sudan Handbook, edited by John Ryle, Justin Willis, Suliman Baldo and Jok Madut Jok. © 2011 Rift Valley Institute and contributors other concessions have been taken up by relatively small firms, reflecting
(www.riftvalley.net).