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Chinese investment in Sudan oil hits $15bn

August 26, 2017 at 12:52 pm

Oil refinery plant, 2 May 2017 [TheKurgan/Wikipedia ]

The Sudanese government announced on Friday that Chinese investment in Sudan’s oil sector has passed $15 billion, Anadolu has reported. Oil Minister Abdul Rahman Othman pointed out that the “pioneering” experience of the Chinese in oil investments in the country goes back 20 years.

Othman made his comments after meeting with the Deputy Chairman of the Chinese Petroleum Company, Jianhua Zhang. He called upon China to increase its investment by bidding for more exploration sites.

The officials discussed how to develop cooperation between the two countries in the oil and gas sector. Othman insisted that Sudan is ready to overcome any obstacles in the way of further Chinese investment.

Meanwhile, Zhang said that his country is ready to face the challenges represented by Sudan’s debts to China and their consequences arising from the separation of independent South Sudan in 2011, which owns three-quarters of Sudan’s oil.

Sudan buys oil for local use from China’s share of the national oil production. By the end of 2016, Sudan still owed China $2 billion.

Before the creation of South Sudan, the Sudanese oil industry produced 450,000 barrels a day. Since 2011, though, it produces just 120,000 barrels daily.