| Follow us on:
|
![[AP]](http://thebricspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/sudan-oil-300x210.jpg)
250,000 to 350,000 barrels of oil a day is expected to be pumped from South Sudan through Sudan [AP]
This marks a crucial breakthrough in relations between the two neighbours after sectarian clashes last year.
South Sudan had suspended crude production in January 2012 citing that Sudan was asking too much for transit.
South Sudan boasts proven oil reserves amounting to 7 billion barrels and the export of hydrocarbons accounts for 98 per cent of the country’s budget.
The country is landlocked and depends on Sudan’s ports for crude export.
South Sudan offered Russian oil and gas company Gazprom to join a number of oil and infrastructural projects in February this year.
“The oil is now flowing,” Stephen Dhieu Dau, South Sudan’s oil minister, said on Saturday as he flicked a switch to restart production at a ceremony in the Thar Jath field in Unity state.
Some 250,000 to 350,000 barrels of oil a day is expected to be pumped from South Sudan through Sudan.
The two countries agreed at negotiations in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa in March to resume oil production and implement other agreements following months of talks, Al Jazeera news reported on Saturday.
South Sudan proclaimed independence from Sudan on July 9, 2011 and became the newest member of the United Nations.
When the country was separated, South Sudan took 75 per cent of Sudan’s oil with it.
Source: Agencies
