By Bida Elly David
Presidential Advisor on Security Affairs, Tut Gatluak has been tasked to push the government to engage directly with the warring parties in Sudan to allow the repair of oil pipeline.
The oil pipeline carries South Sudan’s crude exports through Sudanese territory to international markets.
Since the damage to the pipeline in February, which caused the drop in oil revenues, the government has been facing challenges in exporting crude oil.
Majority of government income comes from oil exports, so the loss of rupture of the pipeline has dealt a severe economic blow to the country.
Speaking yesterday after a consultative meeting with the Presidential Advisor on National Security, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Petroleum, William Anyak, stated that the technical team tasked with fixing the pipeline is grappling with numerous obstacles.
“From that time until today, we have been faced by immense challenges such as lack of communication, accessibility, and delivery of materials to the areas, especially the permanent stations and some essential facilities in Sudan,” he said.
Anyak highlighted that the critical rupture is at pump station three of the pipeline, requiring substantial improvements.
“There is a rupture in one of the points, especially in an area called pump station three, and it has made the efforts very difficult. The rupture has been restored and repaired, but now it is causing some jelling along the pipeline,” he added.
The Undersecretary explained that the actual timeline to fix the pipeline was affected by the war in Sudan, where the companies could not fully access the locations.
“We have three areas remaining, Khartoum refinery, and number two valve 14 which is 5 Kilometres from Khartoum refinery, and pump station 4 which is in Lefon and valve 15,” he said, adding that the level of escalation two weeks ago in these stations increased and impacted their progress.
To repair the ruptured pipeline, Anyak said, “You need to push the wax out or drain it out by pumping hot water or diesel for all these processes.”
He noted that the pipeline is 1,400 kilometres long, starting from Jebelen up to the marine terminal, with more than six pump stations spaced about 200 kilometres apart.
Recognizing the gravity of the situation, the Undersecretary and the Chinese Ambassador to South Sudan, Ma Qiang, engaged the National Security Advisor to the President to help address the issue.
“We engaged the national security advisor to the president in order to push the government to engage the warring parties in Sudan to allow the exploration of the oil pipeline,” William said.
The Ministry of Petroleum, in collaboration with the Presidency, is exerting efforts to ensure the restoration of the oil pipeline as soon as possible.
“The level of progress on the restoration of the pipeline is going on and it will be fixed if all the challenges are addressed,’’ he added.
Ma Qiang, the Chinese Ambassador, assured that China will continue to provide support and cooperation to help solve the problem and strengthen the bilateral cooperation in the oil sector.
“We will continue to provide our support and cooperation together with partners to try to solve the problem and tackle the challenges and we continue to strengthen our bilateral cooperation in the oil sector together with other sectors,’’ Ma said.
“We are aware of the challenges South Sudan is facing in the oil sector, I assure that China will continue to offer support and cooperation to solve the issues,’’ he said.
He noted that China continues to push dialogue among the Sudanese warring parties to ensure the success of the oil flow.