Page 10 - AfrOil Week 08 2020

AfrOil POLICY AfrOil
SUDAN
SHORTAGES of motor fuel seem to have eased in Khartoum and surrounding areas, but sup- plies remain scarce in the north-eastern and south-western regions of Sudan.
In the south-west, the states of Northern Darfur and Southern Darfur are both reporting shortfalls of gasoline and diesel, according to Radio Dabanga.
Residents of Kutum, a town in Northern Darfur, said last week that many drivers were buying fuel on the black market, since filling stations were unable to meet demand.
Diesel is fetching four times the official price on the black market, while gasoline is selling for 12 times the normal rate, said Yahya El Khims, a member of the Sudanese Professionals Associa- tion (SPA) in Kutum.
The price hikes have driven transportation
costs up, and complaints about the shortages and high prices are widespread, he told the radio station.
Meanwhile in Northern Darfur, demon- strators gathered in front of local government buildings in Saraf Umra to protest about ongo- ing problems with fuel supplies. Members of resistance committees and the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) group blamed the local administration for the shortages and called for the dismissal of the government offi- cials involved in distribution. Additionally, they complained that local farmers had not received their fair share of fuel in recent distribution campaigns.
In the north-east, motor fuel continued to
be in short supply in the states of Kassala and
Red Sea. 
 He continued: “US Ambassador Norland and I agreed that the oil and gas sector must be allowed to operate for the benefit of all Libyans, as it represents the only income for [the] state. That means ending the blockade, which is doing severe damage to the economy of [the] country,” he said.
Sanalla went on to say that he hoped the US would play an active role in efforts to negotiate a peace deal.
“I am hopeful that the US will continue their efforts to broker peace so that Libya’s economy can slowly rebuild and work towards prosperity for all Libyan people,” he said. “We urgently need US leadership to help end the oil embargo, not just to avoid a financial crisis,
but to prevent major damage to national infra- structure. Every day that passes with oil sitting in pipelines increases the damage to our infra- structure, increases the pollution risks from leaks and reduces our ability to quickly resume oil production.”
He was speaking shortly before his company reported that its production had dropped again. On February 20, NOC said it was extracting just 122,424 barrels per day of crude oil. This repre- sents a significant drop from the 900,000 bpd- plus figures reported prior to January 18, when Haftar’s LNA cut off NOC’s access to coastal ter- minals and associated infrastructure. It is also more than 1mn bpd below Libya’s 2019 peak of 1.2-1.3mn bpd. ™
Fuel shortages persist
in Sudan outside Khartoum
Fuel shortages have been widespread in Sudan (Photo: Independent.ng)
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w w w. N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 08 26•February•2020