Palouge, South Sudan - South Sudan's Palouge oilfield, the country's biggest, will reach production of up to 180 000 barrels per day within a month after starting at 125 000, oil consortium Dar Petroleum said on Sunday.
Landlocked South Sudan reached an agreement with long-time foe Sudan during talks in Addis Ababa in March to resume pumping of the south's oil to a Red Sea port in Sudan for export.
Both countries came close to war a year ago but pledged in March to end a conflict over oil fees and a disputed border.
“Within a month, we should be reaching 165 000 to 180 000 and we would expect to reach the level where we were before the shutdown by early next year,” Dar Petroleum President Joseph Podtung said during a ceremony to restart production at Palouge.
Partners in the consortium include China National Petroleum and Malaysia's Petronas.
South Sudan's Oil Minister Stephen Dhieu Dau said the first oil cargo would reach Port Sudan by May 20, when President Salva Kiir plans to visit Sudan.
“This symbolic event of launching oil resumption is what the people of South Sudan were awaiting. This is also a message of peace that the agreement that was signed in Addis Ababa in September 2012 is now being implemented,” Dau told a crowd.
Palouge covers the oil blocks 3 and 7 in Upper Nile state. - Reuters