Business
Shell looking to develop opportunities in South Sudan
(Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc., said it is eyeing potential opportunities in South Sudan, which last July broke away from Khartoum, taking with it two-thirds of Sudan’s 500,000 barrels per day of oil production.
“We continuously review potential business opportunities around the world. We would like to better understand the current security, political and business environment in South Sudan, and how this has been impacted by the secession,” a spokesman told Reuters in an emailed statement.
The normally tightlipped oil major does not usually comment about possible new areas of interest.
The landlocked South Sudan’s oil industry faces uncertainty due to a dispute with Khartoum about the use of an oil pipeline to the Red Sea, the only current means of exporting South Sudanese crude.
South Sudan accused Khartoum in November of temporarily blocking the loading of crude. Sudan denies the charges.
Khartoum has demanded a tariff fee for transporting the oil that is in excess of 10 times international norms, which are usually calculated on a per kilometer or per mile basis.
