South Sudan seeks help on oilfields

South Sudan's oil minister is seeking Sudanese help to restore oilfields damaged during fighting between government and rebel forces, official media reports say.

Stephen Dhieu Dau, who met his Sudanese counterpart Makawi Mohammed Awad, said the visit aimed to benefit "from the Sudanese experience to resume the oil pumping at... Unity state's oilfields," the SUNA news agency said.

Unity is a key oil producing region of South Sudan, where crude production fell by about 15 per cent after fighting began in mid-December, industry sources said earlier.

Forces loyal to former vice president Riek Machar have been battling government troops.

On Friday Machar's rebels lost control of Unity's capital Bentiu to the army.

Oil production formed more than 95 per cent of South Sudan's fledgling economy before the fighting began.

Fees paid by South Sudan to send its oil for export through northern pipelines are also a significant revenue-earner for cash-strapped Sudan.

Khartoum's Oil Minister Awad "affirmed the readiness of Sudan for assisting South Sudan in the technical field," SUNA reported.

Last week, Sudan's Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Karti said the two countries were in discussion about setting up a joint force to protect oilfields.

At South Sudan's request, Khartoum would send 900 experts to help with the recovery of oil production affected by the fighting, Karti added.

The South became independent less than three years ago under a 2005 peace deal that ended 23 years of civil war.

It separated with roughly 75 per cent of the 470,000 barrels per day of crude produced by the formerly unified country, while refineries and export pipelines stayed under Khartoum's jurisdiction.