Five employees of a Russian company building an oil refinery in Unity State of South Sudan were wounded yesterday, reportedly after their refinery came under attack by rebel forces. They were evacuated by UN troops on Monday.
Oil production has been halted in the state since December when gunmen killed some oil workers and a defected army division temporarily seized control of much of the oil fields from the government.
After recapturing the fields in January and February, the government announced plans to resume production of crude oil by July as well as finish construction of an oil refinery, a joint venture project of Safinat Russia and state firm Nilepet.
UN Spokesman Stéphane Dujarric, speaking at a press briefing in New York yesterday said, “Peacekeepers extracted 10 employees of the Safinat Caspian Oil Refining Company from a location near those oilfields, about 25 kilometres north-west of Bentiu.”
“Five of the 10 employees were wounded and two of them are said to be in critical condition. All are now at the UNMISS compound in Bentiu receiving medical attention,” reported the spokesman.
This corroborates a report yesterday that at least one foreign oil worker was seriously wounded and one company vehicle looted during the fighting.
It is unclear how the men were wounded, but it happened during clashes yesterday or the day before within the vicinity of the refinery, located about 5 kilometres from the Unity oilfields.
Battles were also waged yesterday at Torabith, west of Bentiu. The fighting spread last night and this morning into Bentiu itself, the state capital.
The oil companies operating in Unity State are state-owned firms from China, India and Malaysia. They export crude oil through a pipeline to the Red Sea coast.
A refinery in the state would allow a small fraction of that oil to be produced into diesel for domestic consumption. The government in Juba ordered for construction of the refinery during a fuel shortage in 2012 caused by the closing of the border with Sudan.
File photo: An oil facility in Unity State