Despite the well-known issues, such as those with revenue sharing, South Sudan’s oil industry and related industries continue to draw admirers.
Businesses have been promoting their agreements from the South Sudan Oil and Power Conference (SSOP), which took place in Juba two weeks ago and was designed to encourage trade and investment in the nation’s oil production.
According to a prospectus from the petroleum ministry, several agreements on financing, oil exploration and production, oil refining, and infrastructure development were signed.
In one of the deals, the South African Nile Orange Company was offered the Jonglei State oil. “We believe the project with Strategic Fuel Fund will now move forward as we anticipated for a very long time. We agreed that a team of technical personnel will visit Jonglei State to talk to the people on the ground, “said Petroleum Minister Puot Kang.
However, details of this and other agreements were not made public.
South Sudan’s Kush Bank signed a deal worth $75 million with AIS Capital Advisors for power distribution and management.
Leonard Mathu, managing director of AIS Capital Advisors, said the agreement will create “a domestic value chain that enables us to control costs, deliver power at stable rates, and without interruption.”South Sudan is the major oil producer in the East African region, but its near-total dependency on oil has made the resource a curse. Due to fees and obligations owed to oil firms, South Sudan’s 170,000 barrels per day means it only earns value worth 50,000 barrels of oil per day, with the rest paying up advance payments or contractual obligations.
However, detractors claim that the money that comes in is also taken. President Salva Kiir dismissed Finance Minister Agak Acuil and Central Bank Governor Moses Makur Deng in August due to empty coffers.
Taking advantage of easier post-pandemic travel, the South Sudan Oil and Power Conference, now in its fifth year, welcomed a larger audience of international and South Sudanese energy professionals and leaders.
The celebration this year highlighted the crucial role energy companies play in ensuring both the expansion of the economy and the personal and professional development of citizens.
