{{Construction of South Sudan\u2019s oil pipeline, to by-pass reliance on neighbouring Sudan, will commence by October, the country\u2019s petroleum and mining minister, Stephen Dhieu Dau, announced Saturday.}}<\/p>\n
Juba says it is engaged in a series of direct discussions with a number of donor countries to help provide funds for the construction of an alternative pipeline to resume production and transportation of its crude oil to international markets,<\/p>\n
In January 2012 – 18 months after seceding from Sudan – the young nation stopped its oil production over a transit fee dispute with Khartoum. <\/p>\n
The move has severely affected South Sudan\u2019s economy, with oil revenues accounting for 98% of the government\u2019s income.<\/p>\n
Dau said he had met with \u201cpotential investors\u201d in the oil sector who have expressed readiness to finance construction of the pipeline during a recent visit to South Africa, where he participated in a mining conference.<\/p>\n
No deals have been signed but the government is in \u201ctalks with companies and governments who have expressed readiness to finance the construction of the alternative pipeline\u201d, Dau told media.<\/p>\n
South Sudan is still considering three potential routes to reach the East African coast. Prior to the shutdown Southern crude was exported through Port Sudan on the Red Sea.<\/p>\n
Despite agreeing on new transit fees over four months ago, border tensions have meant that production has not yet resumed. <\/p>\n
Sudan insists that border security be resolved as a precondition to other aspects of the September deal being implemented.<\/p>\n
The impasse continues, with Juba accusing Khartoum of adding additional demands in order to block its implementation.<\/p>\n
The official said previous Memorandums of Understanding (MoU), which his ministry has signed with Ethiopia and Djibouti authorities to create a mechanism for the construction of a pipeline through their countries, still stood.<\/p>\n
However, Dau also expects his country to sign similar deals with the government of neighbouring Uganda and Kenya, which would allow the construction of a pipeline to the Kenyan ports of Lamu and Mombasa.<\/p>\n
The construction of one of the new pipelines would begin around October or earlier \u201cif all goes according to the plans\u201d, Dau said.<\/p>\n
Companies including a Japanese company which has just completed feasibility studies on the Lamu route, have shown interest to partner with a number of American companies to jointly fund the project.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have already reached an understanding with some international companies to do more exploration and to build [a] pipeline with understanding that they will own it, operate it and transfer later. We shall only be renting it from them during the period of the agreement\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n
A senior member of the country\u2019s governing Sudan People\u2019s Liberation Movement (SPLM) said his ministry had already given a contract to German company ILF to carry out a feasibility study on the South Sudan-Ethiopia-Djibouti route.<\/p>\n
The study is underway, but will take between six and nine months before it is completed, he added.<\/p>\n
South Sudan took with it nearly 75% of the oil resources it previously shared with Sudan when it seceded in July 2011 after a self-determination referendum conducted in January that year. <\/p>\n
The vote was a key part of the 2005 peace deal, which ended over two decades of civil war between the north and South.<\/p>\n
(ST)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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