Will Scargill, a senior oil and gas analyst at GlobalData, a data and analytics company, has offered his views on the effect of political upheaval on Sudan’s oil and gas industry
“Efforts to attract renewed investment into Sudan’s oil and gas industry may be delayed by political upheaval. The government was hoping that remaining US sanctions would be lifted, paving the way for new licensing, but a bid round now appears unlikely in the near term,” he said.
Scargill stated that the country’s oil industry has declined significantly over the past decade, now producing just over 60,000 bpd compared to around 500,000 bpd back in 2007.
He added that major oil fields were lost when South Sudan gained independence in 2011 and the remaining industry suffered from a lack of investment, partly due to the political and economic isolation of the country.
“To combat this, the government had hoped to offer acreage for new exploration later this year, though this process had already been delayed from its original schedule,” he remarked.
“A change in leadership after al-Bashir’s 30 years in power is bound to be disruptive to the implementation of policies to attract new investment and at the moment the political situation still appears very uncertain. The current instability may continue if the army’s transition plans do not meet protestors’ wider demands,” he concluded.
