South Sudan says North drops demand for $22.80 per barrel in transit fees

KHARTOUM - The Sudanese government has dropped its initial demand for a charge of $22.8 per barrel to transport oil from landlocked South Sudan through the pipelines leading to Port Sudan, an official in Juba said on July 30.

Pagan Amum, South Sudan’s Peace minister and chief negotiator, briefed journalists in the capital Juba on July 30, shortly after returning from Addis Ababa.

Amum made the revelation upon his return from the Ethiopian capital where the African Union (AU) is hosting talks between Khartoum and Juba on post-secession arrangements, particularly economic issues.

"This discussion brought to an end the attempt to impose discriminatory surcharges by the government in Khartoum, who announced they would impose $22.8 per barrel transit fee,” he said. “They have withdrawn officially this position.”

"We will be paying pipeline fees ... and also we will be paying transit fees that are within the international practices and standards," Amum added, without saying how much the South was willing to pay.

Southern Sudan said considering oil pipeline through Ethiopia to avoid North

DUBAI - The breakaway region of Sudan, to be known from July 9 as the Republic of Southern Sudan (RoSS), is planning an oil pipeline through Ethiopia as one of its options for circumvent the 2005 oil sharing agreement with Khartoum, South Sudan’s oil minister Dr. Luol Deng said in Dubai on June 28.

Producing more than 70 per cent of Sudan’s oil, the South Sudanese administration feels the 2005 agreement, which calls for a 50-50 sharing of oil revenue between the two entities, is unfair and cannot be implemented.

However, all the oil refineries, storage facilities and ports lie in the Khartoum controlled territory, which receives the crude through two pipelines.

"Oil sharing has been one of the highly contested issues between us (North and South) and we have had continuous discussion over this. For now we will continue with the current mechanism and use North's facilities, but in the future as we gain independence and pump more oil these two pipelines would be insufficient, that is why we are planning to have another one through Ethiopia," said Dr. Deng.