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Oil transactions at the outskirts of Juba. Foto: Federic Schneider
Historic Background
Extensive crude oil exploration in Sudan started in the mid-1970s. In the early 1980s, several considerable
petroleum discoveries were made in Abyei, a region that is located at the North-South
border, and other regions. Considerable investment began in the mid-1990s. A few years later, oil
production started growing rapidly upon completion of the first pipeline from central Sudan to Port
Sudan.
Oil exploring and producing companies
Three major consortiums stand out in Sudan’s crude oil exploration and production market. All
of them are headquartered in Khartoum and dominated by state-owned companies from China,
Malaysia and India.
In order to share the financial burden of exploring petroleum and building a pipeline, the first consortium,
the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company (GNPOC), was founded in 1997. Today,
GNPOC is dominated by companies from Asia while the government of North Sudan is only a minority
shareholder. GNPOC has its headquarters in Khartoum and is owned by the China National
Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) (40%), Petronas Carigali Overseas of Malaysia (30%), ONGC Videsh
of India (25%) and Sudapet, the Sudan National Petroleum Corporation (5%). The three Asian companies
provided most of the engineering work, equipment and construction for the exploration of
oilfields and built the first pipeline. 7 GNPOC still continues to explore and discover new oil fields. 8
The second largest oil exploration and production consortium operating in Sudan is called
PetroDar, which was founded in 2001. PetroDar is composed of CNPC, with a 41 percent share,
Malaysia’s Petronas, with 40 percent, Sudapet of Sudan, with 8 percent, SINOPEC of China with
6 percent, and Tri-Ocean Energy of Egypt, with 5 percent. 9
7 Entrepreneur. October 29, 2007. Sudan – The Oil Sector.
8 GNPOC’s eight main oil fields are Heglig, Unity, El Toor, El Noor, Toma South, Bamboo, Munga & Diffra.
Source: GNPOC Homepage. Retrieved on June 26, 2011.
9 Petrodar Homepage. Retrieved on June 26, 2011.
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