Sudan, Malaysia Sign One-Billion Dollar Oil Deal

Text of report by Sudanese news agency Suna website

Khartoum, 29 August: An agreement to establish new one-billion- dollar oil refinery with a production capacity of 100,000 barrels per day in Port Sudan was signed today between the government and the Malaysian Petronas company, with 50 per cent for each side. The agreement was signed at the Great Salvation Hall in the Ministry of Energy and Mining.

The minister of energy and mining, Dr Awad Ahmad al-Jaz, signed for Sudan while the chairman of the company, Muhammad Hassan Marican, signed for Petronas.

In a speech made by Dr Al-Jaz during the signing ceremony, he hoped that this event would be the beginning of good things ahead especially when the country is currently celebrating the sixth anniversary of exporting Sudanese oil.

The minister appreciated Malaysia’s contribution to the Sudanese oil exploration project. He said they were friends who came in times of hardship and would remain so in the future. He said despite the fact that the agreement stated that the capacity of the oil refinery was 100,000 barrels a day the agreement with Petronas was to raise this capacity to 150,000 barrels a day.

Dr Al-Jaz said all the Sudanese sides were now fit to invest after peace.

Meanwhile, Mr Muhammad Hassan Merican said the partnership comes within the framework of promoting the Sudanese-Malaysian ties for the sake of developing oil plants. He also said that the oil would be exported all over the world through refineries.