South Sudan to Export Crude Oil by Road Through Ethiopia

Border areas between Sudan and South Sudan where the proliferation of oil resources is a major cause for conflict. The South Sudan government recently withdrew from the Heglig oil fields after international condemnation., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

South Sudan to export crude oil by road through Ethiopia

By MACHEL AMOS in Juba | Saturday, March 2 2013 at 17:14
Africa Review

Oil tanker: South Sudan will commence constructing a road to Ethiopia that would transport the new nation’s crude oil to the international market through Djibouti port.

South Sudan will commence constructing a road to Ethiopia that would transport the new nation’s crude oil to the international market through Djibouti port.

South Sudan has approved a plan to urgently construct a road to Ethiopia, an official has said.

Information and Broadcasting minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin, said the Cabinet resolved on Friday to urgently construct the road from the oil fields at Paloug in Upper Nile State to the Ethiopian border.

“The council has given the go ahead for the construction of Falluj-Pagak-Ethiopia road. This is to make it possible for the construction of this road to link the oil fields to Ethiopia so that we can transport our crude oil by land through Ethiopia to Djibouti," Dr Marial said.

"The two ministers (of Roads and Petroleum) have been given a go ahead in order to finish the process together in coordination with the Ethiopian government so that this road is quickly constructed," he said.

At secession in July 2011, Juba took with it more than 75 per cent of the crude oil Khartoum used to export, but the pipelines run through the north to Port Sudan terminal.

South Sudan halted oil flow in January 2012 accusing Sudan of stealing and diverting her oil, which accounted for 98 per cent of the country's budget.

Although the two countries reached agreement last September to resume oil flow through Sudan, the implementation of the deals has been a mystery.

Exporting the oil by roads could ease the pressure on South Sudan local currency by providing hard currency that the Africa's new nation badly needs to import basic commodities.

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