Sudan and South Sudan extend oil exporting deal to 2022

CAIRO (Reuters) - Sudan and South Sudan have agreed to extend an oil deal that allows South Sudan to export its crude through its northern neighbour’s ports through to 2022, Sudan’s state news agency SUNA said on Thursday.

The deal was originally signed in 2012 and had been extended until Dec. 31, 2019. It has now been extended for a second time until March 2022, SUNA said, citing Sudanese Energy and Mining Deputy Minister Hamed Suliman.

Sudan, which lost most of its oil wealth in South Sudan’s secession in 2011, is keen to continue benefiting from exporting its neighbour’s oil through its pipelines and Red Sea ports to help its crumbling economy recover.

Landlocked South Sudan, which seceded from Sudan in 2011, depends on oil exports flowing north to fund its state budget.

The agreement to extend the oil deal was reached during a visit by a South Sudanese oil ministry delegation to Khartoum.

Both sides also reached understandings on restarting South Sudan’s Thar Jath oilfield block 5A and continuing technical work on the second phase of the Unity and Toma South oilfields, SUNA said.