January 22, 2008 (BEIJING) — Crude oil exports from Sudan to China more than doubled last year to top 200,000 barrels a day, with official data showing that China now takes 40 percent of the east African producer’s total output.
Sudan exported 10.31 million tonnes to China in 2007, or 113 percent above 2006, ranking as Beijing’s sixth-largest crude supplier, with 6 percent of the total crude imports to the world’s second-largest oil user, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.
The surge in Sudanese oil was due to the rising production at Block 3/7, which started up in August 2006 and produces a heavy, highly acidic crude Dar Blend, traders said.
State energy group CNPC, parent of PetroChina , is the largest oil investor in Sudan, owning 41 percent of block 3/7 and 40 percent of the 1/2/4 field, which produces Nile Blend crude.
Sudan now stood within striking distance of the fifth-largest exporter, Oman, where sales in 2007 sales went up a marginal 3.7 percent to 270,000 bpd.
Saudi Arabia, Angola, Iran and Russia were the top four exporters, among which Iran recorded the biggest increase — 22 percent over a year earlier, the data recorded.
State refiner Sinopec Corp raised spot purchases on top of term supplies, traders have said.
The data also showed that supplies from Russia came down 9 percent at 290,000 bpd, which traders attributed partly to below-target sales through railways.
For this year, Riyadh is set to remain Beijing’s top oil supplier, as the Kingdom agreed to raise exports by nearly 40 percent to some 720,000 bpd, to feed China’s new refining facilities, Beijing-based traders have told Reuters.
Since Beijing has agreed to raise imports from Tehran by about 100,000 bpd under a one-year supply pact, Iran could soon overtake Angola as China’s No.2 supplier.
(Reuters)
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Darfur bandit attacks threaten aid to 2 million: WFP
By Opheera McDoom
Armed robberies and bandit attacks on aid convoys are threatening deliveries of food to more than 2 million people in Darfur, the World Food Program said on Wednesday.
Around two-thirds of the population of Darfur depend on the world's largest aid operation, but a collapse in law and order in the vast region has made life difficult for humanitarian workers.
Five years of fighting in Darfur has claimed an estimated 200,000 lives and driven 2.5 million from their homes.
So far this year, 22 trucks have been stolen and 18 drivers are missing, WFP officials said, calling on the Sudanese government to make sure the roads are safe.
"Our main trucking companies now refuse to send in more vehicles because of this upsurge in banditry and therefore we have no one to deliver about half our monthly food relief requirement, WFP Sudan country head Kenro Oshidari said in the statement.
"If the situation continues, we'll be forced to cut rations in parts of Darfur by mid-February," he added.
"Attacks on trucks carrying WFP supplies, abductions of drivers and trucks, looting of WFP supplies and drivers' personal property and beatings of WFP-contracted drivers to intimidate them have increased in recent months," the statement said.
In addition to the attacks on drivers under contract, WFP said there were two attacks on WFP staff and vehicles on Tuesday.
Near el-Fasher, Darfur's main town, two vehicles were taken and five staff briefly abducted and threatened with death before being released and walking to safety.
South of el-Geneina, capital of West Darfur state, WFP lorries were shot at. The cab of one vehicle took a direct hit although the driver escaped unharmed.
A joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping mission took over from struggling AU peacekeepers on December 31, but troop levels are unchanged and the government in Khartoum has obstructed deployment of the new mission.
In the absence of an effective peacekeeping operation, the government has also failed to maintain safety on the roads, although local authorities deny any security problems.
"WFP is urging Sudanese authorities to ensure the safety of main routes in Darfur," the statement added.
Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003 accusing central government of marginalizing the region. Khartoum mobilized mainly Arab tribes to quell the insurgency.
Those tribal militias are accused of widespread atrocities against civilians. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for a junior government minister and an allied militia leader accused of war crimes, but Khartoum refuses to hand them over.
(Reporting by Opheera McDoom; Editing by Giles Elgood)
Copyright © 2008 Reuters
Armed robberies and bandit attacks on aid convoys are threatening deliveries of food to more than 2 million people in Darfur, the World Food Program said on Wednesday.
Around two-thirds of the population of Darfur depend on the world's largest aid operation, but a collapse in law and order in the vast region has made life difficult for humanitarian workers.
Five years of fighting in Darfur has claimed an estimated 200,000 lives and driven 2.5 million from their homes.
So far this year, 22 trucks have been stolen and 18 drivers are missing, WFP officials said, calling on the Sudanese government to make sure the roads are safe.
"Our main trucking companies now refuse to send in more vehicles because of this upsurge in banditry and therefore we have no one to deliver about half our monthly food relief requirement, WFP Sudan country head Kenro Oshidari said in the statement.
"If the situation continues, we'll be forced to cut rations in parts of Darfur by mid-February," he added.
"Attacks on trucks carrying WFP supplies, abductions of drivers and trucks, looting of WFP supplies and drivers' personal property and beatings of WFP-contracted drivers to intimidate them have increased in recent months," the statement said.
In addition to the attacks on drivers under contract, WFP said there were two attacks on WFP staff and vehicles on Tuesday.
Near el-Fasher, Darfur's main town, two vehicles were taken and five staff briefly abducted and threatened with death before being released and walking to safety.
South of el-Geneina, capital of West Darfur state, WFP lorries were shot at. The cab of one vehicle took a direct hit although the driver escaped unharmed.
A joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping mission took over from struggling AU peacekeepers on December 31, but troop levels are unchanged and the government in Khartoum has obstructed deployment of the new mission.
In the absence of an effective peacekeeping operation, the government has also failed to maintain safety on the roads, although local authorities deny any security problems.
"WFP is urging Sudanese authorities to ensure the safety of main routes in Darfur," the statement added.
Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003 accusing central government of marginalizing the region. Khartoum mobilized mainly Arab tribes to quell the insurgency.
Those tribal militias are accused of widespread atrocities against civilians. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for a junior government minister and an allied militia leader accused of war crimes, but Khartoum refuses to hand them over.
(Reporting by Opheera McDoom; Editing by Giles Elgood)
Copyright © 2008 Reuters
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