South Sudan has announced that it is hoping to export its crude oil to international markets using an alternative pipeline passing through Kenya by 2014
The idea has followed an apparent attempt to avoid using the port of neighbouring Sudan with which it has been engaged in a series of post-secession disputes.
The minister of information and broadcasting services Barnaba Marial Benjamin said that the members of the cabinet had unanimously agreed to endorse the petroleum and mining policy framework of the oil ministry during deliberations chaired by vice-president Riek Machar Teny.
Benjamin added that the policy would guide petroleum and mining activities as well as the operations of the ministry, particularly in laying out procedures relating to granting contracts to international and national companies wishing to invest in the petroleum and mining sector.
South Sudan shut down oil output in 2012 following a dispute over how much the new nation should pay in pipeline fees to transport crude oil via its northern neighbour for export from Port Sudan.
