South Sudan's oil output slips to 160,000 bpd: ministry official

By Carl Odera

JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudan's oil production is averaging about 160,000 barrels per day (bpd), slipping by about 5,000 bpd on numbers released last month, an oil ministry official said on Thursday.

Production has been slashed by about a third since fighting broke out in the world's newest state in December, with many South Sudanese oil wells damaged and output in decline at functioning fields due to a dearth of spare parts.

"According to our daily activity report the flow is fluctuating but it is still averaging 160,000 barrels a day," the official in South Sudan's petroleum ministry told Reuters.

Petroleum Minister Stephen Dhieu Dau said on May 24 output stood at 165,000 bpd. All the oil is pumped from Paloch, the site of an oil processing complex in the north of the country near the border with Sudan.

Oil firms in South Sudan, a country roughly the size of France, include China National Petroleum Corp [CNPET.UL], India's ONGC Videsh [ONGCVD.UL] and Malaysia's Petronas [PETRA.UL].

The official, who asked not to be identified, said the companies were struggling to resupply Paloch with spare parts even though South Sudan President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar signed a ceasefire deal last month.

Both sides have accused each other of violating the truce.

"Heavy parts can only be transported via the river and because of the fighting the logistics become risky," the official said.

Dau said last month Khartoum had offered to supply materials, engineers and electricity to South Sudan to speed up the repair of oilfields damaged during the recent fighting.

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