Government announces start of repairs on ruptured oil pipeline in Sudan

The Ministry of Petroleum on Tuesday said repairs on the ruptured oil pipeline enroute to Port Sudan has commenced as the government races to restore oil production amid economic slump.
Ma Qiang, Chinese Ambassador to South Sudan (Left) and Dr. William Anyak Deng, Undersecretary of Ministry of Petroleum (Right) address journalists in Juba on Tuesday (Photo by Awan Achiek)

By Awan Achiek

The Ministry of Petroleum on Tuesday said repairs on the ruptured oil pipeline enroute to Port Sudan has commenced as the government races to restore oil production amid economic slump.

Dr. William Anyak Deng, Undersecretary in the Ministry of Petroleum said that the rupture has been repaired although it has caused some gelling along the oil pipeline. 

“For you to de-gel or to remove the wax in the pipeline, you have at least to push it out or to drain it out by pumping hot water or pumping diesel, at least to restore this process,” Deng said after meeting with the Advisor on National Security, Tut Galuak and the Chinese Ambassador Ma Qiang  in Juba.

Deng said they are only left with fixing three main areas along the Khartoum refinery.

“But now, we remain with only three main areas, it’s along the Khartoum refinery, and number two, along Val 14, which is five kilometers from the Khartoum refinery, there is Pump Station 4, which is in Elephone, and Val 15. All those areas, before two weeks we are ready to mobilize the team inside,” he disclosed.

He added that the ongoing fighting between the Sudan Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are preventing engineers from fully addressing the damage.

Deng said the pipeline is 1,400 kilometers with six pump stations, starting from Gevelin up to the marine terminal.

He said they have started engaging the warring parties in Sudan to at least allow the engineers to fix the damages on the pipeline.

“Between pump stations, you have some valves, so you have to move from one point to another point to clean and to remove the wax because of gelling, because the actual effort to solve it on time was difficult because of the war,” Deng disclosed.

South Sudan oil exports halted on 6th February 2024, after damage on the pipeline.

Force majeure was declared on March 16, after operators of the Jabalayn-Port Sudan pipeline discovered gelling between Pump Stations 4 and 5, located in a military operation zone.

The incident was noted by Sudanese authorities when an impeded flow was detected in mid-February.

Concerns were also sparked earlier this year when Sudan’s main refinery, the 100,000-bpd al-Jaili facility near Khartoum, was hit by shelling in January and February.

Ma Qiang, Chinese Ambassador to South Sudan reaffirmed his government’s readiness to provide help in addressing the challenges related to the pipeline.

“I assure that China will continue to provide support and cooperation together with the partners to try to solve the problem and tackle the challenges,” Ma said.

He said China will continue to strengthen its bilateral cooperation with South Sudan in the oil sector.

“In the future, we will continue to strengthen our bilateral cooperation in the oil sector and in other sectors together to make our bilateral relations even stronger, and to make people benefit from the cordial relations together,” Ma disclosed.

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