South Sudan looks to start refinery, restart crude output.

摘要

South Sudan's crude production has fallen to about 160K b/d, all from Upper Nile state, amid ongoing violence between the factions supporting President Salva Kiir and his one-time deputy Riek Machar. Oil fields in Unity state, which had been producing at 50K b/d, were shut down in Dec. after the fighting started on Dec. 15, but according to Petroleum Ministry spokesman Nicodemas Ajak Bior, government forces have retaken the state capital of Bentiu, and production from Unity oil fields will be returned to previous levels in the coming months to July. In addition, a new 3K-b/d diesel refinery near Bentiu will be brought online the same month; the plant was constructed by Russian Safinat and S. Sudanese state-owned Nile Petroleum, but its commissioning was delayed because of the violence. Bior also said that the construction of a lOK-b/d refinery by US Ventech Engineers in Melut county, Upper Nile was also interrupted by the fighting, but did not indicate when the work might resume.