S. Sudan sees hope in rising oil price to shore up battered economy: official

JUBA, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan said on Monday that it hopes to benefit from rising global oil prices to shore up its battered economy in the wake of more than three years of brutal violence that cut off production in its northern oil fields. Minister of Petroleum Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth told journalists that the market is appreciating after pump price peaked 65 U.S. dollars per barrel a day (bpd) on the global market, which he said benefits the war-torn country to earn more revenue accrued from its oil. "The oil market is appreciating now very well the oil price is going up its 65 dollars a barrel and yet in South Sudan it's something we need to cerebrate because our economy is driven by oil. We are going very well in the oil industry," Gatkuoth said in Juba after arriving from attending the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meeting in Vienna. He added that global oil price is very good and that both OPEC and non-OPEC members like South Sudan have agreed to continue with the oil cap to stabilize the market. South Sudan depends 98 percent on oil to finance its fiscal budget and the 2017/18 approved budget totaled to 300 million dollars. Gatkuoth revealed that production has since declined due to conflict and they were working to improve on current output. "If you look at the production in Dar Petroleum or DPOC in Paloch, we used to produce 270,000 bpd but now we are producing 135-140,000 bpd. Then if you go to GPOC we used to produce close to 200,000 barrels a day but now we are producing zero. So we have agreed with Sudan to resume the production there," he disclosed. In October, President Salva Kiir and his Sudan counterpart Omar Bashir met in Khartoum and agreed to speed up resumption of oil production. Gatkuoth also said that oil giants Total and Tullow were coming to invest in some of the country's oil blocks. "Total is coming back for B1, B2 and you have Tullow being committed to making sure that we are going to seal the deal with them. After the oil conference here in Juba a lot of oil companies are interested to come to South Sudan," he said. Meanwhile, he also said that they were in talks with regional countries like Kenya and Uganda to construct oil pipeline that will cater for mostly the oil in the southern part of South Sudan, while the oil in the northern part continues to flow through Sudan. "In the southern part of South Sudan we will have to have an alternative pipeline, but the oil that are actually in the northern part they will continue to go to Sudan. So we are in discussion with Uganda and Kenya to see alternative route that can be used," he said.