South Sudan Courts Oil Investors as Sudan’s Warring Forces Take Their Share

AI Summary

South Sudan is seeking investors for 14 oil exploration blocks and aims to raise production from about 170,000 to 230,000 barrels per day. The country’s oil exports pass through war-torn Sudan, where the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces extract payments, creating significant risks for investors and export flows.

South Sudan is courting fresh capital for 14 exploration blocks and a production increase from roughly 170,000 barrels per day to 230,000, which investors would find impossible to control once those barrels left the country. Captive to neighboring Sudan’s civil war, South Sudan is essentially divvying up its oil, under duress, between the Sudanese Army and the rival paramilitary RSF, which extract payment before the oil can reach the Red Sea. The government-backed South Sudan Oil & Power conference will put that proposition before investors…