Sudan aims for 1 mln bpd within 3 years

Sudan aims to increase oil production to 1 million barrels per day within three years relying on new finds and more efficient oil extraction methods, Petroleum Minister Lual Deng said on Wednesday.

Deng told Reuters in an interview that U.S. sanctions, imposed since 1997, were preventing big American and European oil companies from investing in Sudan, but that smaller firms from Europe were showing interest in the budding oil producer. “My objective is if technically feasible to increase the production to 1 million barrels per day within the shortest period which is feasible all other things equal,” he said.

The target could be achieved: “Through a two-track approach – improving the efficiency of the enhanced oil recovery in existing wells and also increasing production with new wells.”

Sudan currently produces about 470,000 barrels per day of oil and Deng said increasing the output in areas like the Defra field in the central disputed Abyei region would require increased security. The area is still disputed between the north and south who ended more than two decades of war in 2005.

In Block 5a the Thar Jath field was ready to up production from 16,000 to 40,000 bpd but they were working on a way to transport the heavier crude in that location via the nearby pipeline built for the lighter Nile Blend, he said.

New finds by Petrodar in Blocks 3 and 7 as well as Block 6 operated by China’s CNPC and Block 17 operated by Yemen’s Ansan Wikfs will also up production in the next two years.

Deng said Finnish/Scottish Fenno Caledonian exploring two concessions Blocks 17 and 8 should also contribute to output in the coming three years. The minister – the first southerner to hold the post – added the only way to lift U.S. sanctions and attract the oil giants was to resolve the political problems of the country, namely conflict in Darfur and to fully implement 2005′s north-south peace deal which will culminate in a southern vote on independence in four months.

“I think if we put our house in order people will come.” Sudan’s north-south partners are still negotiating the sharing of governmental assets ahead of the referendum which many believe will result in secession.

Deng said talks were underway with the GNPOC consortium to transfer ownership of its Heglig to Port Sudan pipeline to the government. But the Petrodar pipeline would still be considered a liability on Khartoum’s balance sheet as of the Jan. 9, 2011 referendum.

“The one from Heglig to Port Sudan is almost (ours) we are discussing with the companies — the ownership is almost there for the government of Sudan,” he said.