Recovery of South Sudan oil output to take time -official

(Adds status of plans to restart production in Unity state)

By Carl Odera

JUBA, March 19 (Reuters) - South Sudan's oil production issteady at about 160,000 barrels per day and will take time torecover to previous levels, an oil ministry official said, afteroil facilities in Unity state were burned in fighting betweenpolitical factions.

Production on Monday was 162,000 bpd from fields in UpperNile state, said the oil ministry official who asked not to beidentified. That level, little changed from the start of theyear, is down about a third from the 245,000 bpd recorded beforethe conflict flared up in mid-December.

Oil facilities in Unity state have been shut sincesupporters of President Salva Kiir fought defectors who backedhis sacked deputy, Riek Machar.

"They set the facility ablaze. It will take long torestart," the official said.

Oil companies evacuated Unity state after some local oilworkers were killed in the fighting as the defectors capturedthe capital Bentiu. Government forces have since recaptured thetown.

The firms have yet to resume operations, however, while thegovernment strives to ensure security and to assess the damage,according to a senior official at a foreign oil company.

"Right now the efforts to restart Unity production are goingon, but until now the report (on the extent of the damage) isnot finished. The paperwork to resume until now is not finished;there is no change there in security," the senior official said.

"They (the government) don't control all the oil fieldsthere, so we hope this can change. But now it remains just ahope because with technical people, without security nobody willgo there."

Sporadic battles have been fought since a ceasefire deal wasreached on Jan. 23, with some of the fiercest fighting inMalakal, the capital of Upper Nile state. But production fromthe Upper Nile fields has held steady.

Upper Nile fields produce Dar blend crude, which is a heavyand sour blend. The lighter and sweeter Nile blend produced fromthe Unity fields tends to sell at a premium to Dar.

The two blends usually go to Chinese and Indian refiners,which can process a variety of crudes. Some Nile blend is alsoshipped to Japan where it is burned by utilities.

Any variation in production of South Sudan's crudes canimpact the price of some other grades such as Indonesian,Angolan and some Australian crudes.

Oil firms in South Sudan, a country roughly the size ofFrance, include China National Petroleum Corp,India's ONGC Videsh and Malaysia's Petronas.

All of South Sudan's exports run via a pipeline throughSudan to the Red Sea. South Sudan split from Sudan in 2011, andthe two nations have often argued since then over oil transitfees, border security and other issues. (Additional reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen in Singapore;Writing by Edmund Blair; editing by Drazen Jorgic and JaneBaird)

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