Who’s oil? Sudan’s oil industry

Oil is a principal factor in Sudanese politics. However, rather than contributing to an environment of peace and equitable development, it remains a source of strife and division.This dossier provides an overview of Sudan’s oil industry and serves as a background document about the country’s contentious oil issues. The tables with data in the first two chapters help the reader to get a picture of Sudan’s oil industry. The third chapter has a more analytical content and gives a better understanding of the consequences of oil extraction on the lives of the Sudanese citizens.The signing of Sudan’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/ Army (SPLM/A) in 2005, ended war in the South, but three years after signing, the CPA is in great danger. Its provisions have never been fully implemented. All points of contention on the implementation of the agreement relate to oil, including the North-South border demarcation, withdrawal of troops from the oil fields, oil revenue sharing and transparency, and the industry’s dramatic social and environmental record, which are undermining popular support for the peace agreement. The large economic growth over the last few years has made a small Northern elite very rich, but most Sudanese people have seen nothing of it.The political and security situation in the oil areas has remained tense as a result of the unsatisfactory implementation of CPA. Ordinary people see scarcely any peace or oil dividend. The former heavy-handed security arrangements are no longer in effect.The SPLM/A is gradually strengthening its hold over the oil regions, while exploration and development operations are extending southwards from the existing fields into areas without presence from the national army, the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF). The document concludes that although at present there is no direct threat for clashes between the different forces, the oil fields remain a high risk area. Also, continued fighting in Darfur can threaten operations of oil companies in the Darfur-South Kordofan border area and spill over to the South.