India calls for resumption of oil production in South Sudan

With Sudan and South Sudan reaching an agreement that would pave way for cessation of all hostilities and resumption of oil production, India is hoping that huge losses suffered by ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) in the new North African country would be plugged and called for resumption of oil production “at the earliest”.

On Thursday, the presidents of Sudan and South Sudan agreed to a deal in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. India has a major commercial and strategic stake at the conflict -- its flagship overseas oil explorer OVL is losing `2 crore a day ever since South Sudan stopped oil production within its territory in January.

In fact, India had appointed a special envoy to both the countries to meet the leaderships.Landlocked South Sudan, which became independent last year, had suspended oil production, though hydrocarbons accounted for 98 per cent of its nascent economy.

Juba had complained that Sudan was siphoning off crude to pay for unpaid transit fee, with Khartoum asserting that it should be getting a much higher transit fee for each barrel of oil.