Sudan starts oil exploration in Red Sea

Sudanese government has started drilling its first overseas offshore exploration well in the Red Sea Basin off Sudan with the help of the state China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).

Sudanese minister of Energy and Mining Al-Zubair Ahmed Al-Hassan and Governor of the Red Sea Province Mohamed Taher have attended the launching ceremony of the drilling operations on Monday February 1.

The well falls in Area 15 under the franchise of the Red Sea Petroleum Operating Co., a consortium of five firms including the CNPC, Malaysia’s state oil firm Petronas, Sudan’s state oil firm Sudapet, Nigeria’s Express Petroleum and Sudanese firm High Tech Group.

Petronas and CNPC each have a 35 percent interest in the block 15.

The Sudanese minister said results are positive from prospecting for oil and gas in the Red Sea.

Tokar-1 is one of two exploration wells in Block 15, located some 130 kilometers southeast of Port Sudan. The CNPC and its partners plan to complete drilling in six months.

The wells have a designed drilling depth of 3,700 meters, and water depths of 38 meters and 52 meters respectively.

Sudan started producing oil in 1998 with an initial daily output of 150,000 barrels which rose to the current 500,000 barrels. Most of the current production is from oil wells in southern Sudan. The government plans to launch this year exploration and production of oil and gas in southern Darfur and Sennar states, besides another block (10) in eastern Sudan.

Source:sudantribune.com/

Sudan ships first ethanol exports to EU

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan has begun exporting its first 5 million litres of ethanol to the European Union, at an initial price of around 450 euros a cubic metre, officials from the Kenana Sugar company said on Monday.

Kenana, Sudan's largest sugar company, this year inaugurated the ethanol plant which aims to produce 65 million litres a year of the bio fuel.

"Yesterday a vessel carrying 5 million litres of ethanol went to Rotterdam," said company secretary Fareed Omer Medani.

"This has been purchased by the European Union," he said, adding by the end of February a further 20 million litres would be exported in four separate shipments.

Kenana's Managing Director Mohamed El Mardi told Reuters the price per cubic metre for the December shipment was about 450 euros FOB.

But he said prices for the four further shipments would vary, depending on the market.

"The prices are not fixed prices," he said. "For the five shipments we will have 5 different prices -- January/February prices are higher than in December."

Mardi said it was the first export of ethanol from Sudan, adding the shipments would continue regularly at 5 million litres every month.

Source:af.reuters.com/