Business
Newly independent South Sudan signs first oil deals
South Sudan has signed its first oil deals with a foreign countries since it won independence last July. The countries include China, India and Malaysia, officials said.
Oil revenues make up 98 percent of government budget for the world’s newest nation, which split last year from former civil war enemies in north Sudan last year, taking with it some 75 percent of oil production.
The deals, which replace deals signed with Khartoum under a unified Sudan, cover oil production in the two key petroleum states of Unity and Upper Nile.
“Now as of today, we have assured our position with our partners, that we are committed to work together to promote our interests through exploitation of the oil,” Minister of Petroluem and Mining Stephen Dhieu Dau told reporters.
