Sudan to Invite Bids to Run Six New Oil & Gas Blocks

Sudan will invite bids from firms to operate in six new oil and gas blocks early next year, the oil minister said, as the country moves to compensate for the loss of the crude-producing south. Sudan has been aiming to boost crude production since South Sudan split off in July under a 2005 peace deal, taking about three quarters of the formerly united country's roughly 500,000 barrels per day of oil output with it.

Oil is the lifeblood of both economies, but the two sides have still not worked out how much South Sudan should pay to export its oil through pipelines running through Sudan to a Red Sea port.

Sudan's Oil Minister Awad al-Jaz said the dispute with South Sudan would not affect the six new blocks, which he listed as Blocks 8, B12, 14, 18, 10 and 15. "The blocks on offer are not related to South Sudan. All of them are in Sudan in areas that have not seen armed conflict and have no connection to the outstanding issues with South Sudan," he told reporters. More information would be provided at a conference scheduled for January 15, Jaz added.

Companies will work in the blocks in consortia with Sudan's national oil company Sudapet, Azhari Abdel Gadir, the ministry's head of exploration, said. Some tax and customs exemptions would be offered to companies in the consortia, he added.