Sudan, South Sudan strike oil exportation deal

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Landlocked South Sudan says it has a struck a deal with Sudan over the exportation of oil through Sudan’s pipelines. In a statement Saturday South Sudan’s government said that it will pay approximately $9.48 a barrel to transport its fuel through Sudan’s pipelines.

South Sudan says the agreement on pipeline transportation fees will last for three and a half years after which the countries may negotiate lower rates or South Sudan, which expects to have constructed a pipeline through Kenya, will stop using Sudan’s pipeline.

A row over the sharing of the two countries’ once-unified oil industry prompted South Sudan to shut down its oil production. Oil also sparked a dangerous military confrontation between the two sides in April, when South Sudan captured the disputed town of Heglig, which is responsible for more than half of Sudan’s oil production.

AP