S Sudan projects bumper oil yield

South Sudan expects to reach peak oil output of 350 000 barrels per day (bpd) by mid-2019 as production ramps up at fields that were off-line due to violence, Petroleum Minister Ezekiel Lol Gatkouth said yesterday.

South Sudan ceded from Sudan in 2011 when output peaked at 350 000 bpd, prior to the outbreak of a civil war two years later, the Sudan Tribune reported.

The Toma South oilfield resumed pumping 20 000 bpd of crude last week after production was suspended in mid-December 2013.

Production at five previously suspended oilfields is expected to reach 80 000 bpd after maintenance work is completed. – ANA