South Sudan and South Africa have signed a $1bn oil exploration agreement.
The deal allows for a six-year production and sharing of an untapped exploration block which was hit by civil war.
The Block B2 memorandum of understanding signed in November by Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth, South Sudan’s Minister of Petroleum and Jeff Radebe, South Africa’s Minister of Energy, will see South Africa commit $50 million for exploration as well as build pipelines and refineries-bringing the total projected investment to $1 billion.
Although, very little drilling has been done, Block B2, which lies in the greater Jonglei State, was once part of a 120,000 square kilometer area known as Block B, which was divided into three licenses in 2012 and is thought to be rich in hydrocarbons.
South Sudan, which became the world’s youngest country after it split from Sudan in 2011, has one of the largest reserves of crude in sub-Saharan Africa, only a third of which, have been explored.
Production plummeted when civil war broke out two years after independence, but a plan to form a unity government by May 12 has been delayed.
