South Sudan's oil minister Steven Dhieu Dau says Wednesday that his ministry is working to boost oil production to raise more income for the country.

Dau told journalists that a technical assessment is being carried out in the oil fields of Northern Leich and Ruweng states of Unity now that the security situation is stable in those areas. The oil fields in Unity state were damaged by fighting in South Sudan's ongoing civil war.

Dau said they do not have an exact date set for when oil prodution in blocks 1, 2, 4, and 5A will restart as doing so is dependent on the results of the technical assessment.

"I want assure our people that we are working hard to increase the oil production so that we have to address this hardship that is facing our country. The oil production will be increased so that the revenue of the government increase as the same time we are working in other fronts in the mineral sector in coordination with states and communities where we have the potential mineral resources to exploit the mineral resources so that we have to increase the government revenue," he said.

The minister added that in the last two to three days global oil prices has increased to at least 40 USD per barrel after plummeting to under 30 dollars per barrel over the last year.