Sudan war disrupting supplies to South Sudan's oil industry

The two-month-old war in Sudan is hampering supplies to South Sudan's oil industry, with output expected to slow unless peace efforts in Khartoum prove successful, an oil ministry official said on Thursday.

Landlocked South Sudan relies entirely on Sudan's refineries and pipelines to export its crude to the international market, with 85% of the country's annual budget funded by oil revenues.

Awow Daniel Chuang, a technical advisor at South Sudan's oil ministry, said production was currently unchanged at 170,000 barrels per day, but that fighting in Khartoum and elsewhere was choking supplies of chemicals, fuel and equipment.

"There is a risk of even (output) slowing down...if the situation does not subside," Chuang told reporters on the sidelines of an oil conference in Juba.

Fighting between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has displaced 2.2 million people and killed at least 1,000.

South Sudan's oil minister, Puot Kang Chol, said some delegates had pulled out of the conference because of the war in Sudan.

"To them, they don't know the difference between Sudan and South Sudan," Chol said in a speech.

 (Reuters)