China’s oil company, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and Indonesia’s PT Pertamina have put international pressure aside taking initiative to co-develop a Sudanese offshore oil block.
The newly signed agreement provides six-year exploration phase to the oil drillers and endow with the shared future oil production under a 20-year concession. Under the agreement, CNPC would have exploration rights to 13 oil blocks located in the northern coast of the Red Sea. The fields have a total acreage of about 3.8 square kilometers.
CNPC, a leading energy investor in Sudan, holds 50 percent stake in the country’s largest Khartoum refinery. China now produces roughly 226,000 barrels of oil every day from three oil fields in Sudan, which accounts for roughly 3 percent of China’s demand.
CNPC holds huge stakes in Sudan oil reserves and is the largest foreign oil driller in the country. In the early four month of the present fiscal year, the company has shipped 4.7 million metric tons of crude oil.
Sudan is under the scanner for homicides in the country. Darfur conflict puts the country on back foot and America labeled sanction over the country and pressurized it to ban government patronized militia Janjaweed.
Human rights activists are continuously accusing China of shielding Sudan from pressure over its handling of Darfur. China has opposed harsh measures against Sudan. America, on other side has its own interest, whereas China asserts that Beijing is doing its best to help solve the ongoing conflict.
Since 2003, the conflict has claimed more than 450,000 lives and has displaced 2.5 million inhabitants, who are forced to take shelter in eastern Chad.
CNPC, meanwhile, is facing international pressure from foreign investors to reduce its involvement in Sudan.
