South Sudan's government has warned the Sudanese government against continuing to delay the export of its petroleum through its northern ports by preventing ships carrying crude from transporting South Sudan's petroleum. Heightening the tension, Juba said that it would stop pumping oil on 15 January, two days before the scheduled resumption of negotiations between the two nations in Addis Ababa under African Union auspices if the Sudanese government continued using what it described as "the law of the jungle" in dealing with the newly independent South Sudan.
During an interview with Al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper on 12 January South Sudan Minister of Petroleum and Mining Stephen Dhieu remarked, "Khartoum is detaining two ships in Port Sudan that were loaded with petroleum. It has also barred two ships from docking at the port and refused to give entry permission to two more ships which are on their way to Port Sudan. The total value of the crude is $500 million. We on our part have not stopped the production of petroleum before, but if the Sudanese Government continues in its dealings by forcibly taking the petroleum of the South and rejecting the ships of the companies which have bought crude petroleum from us, we shall stop pumping it in all locations as of 15 January."
By. Joao Peixe, Deputy Editor OilPrice.com
Joao is a writer for Oilprice.com More