South Sudan’s Foreign Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin is expected to visit Khartoum this week to discuss reduction of oil transport fees of about $20 dollars per barrel.
South Sudan’s government set the fee issue as one of the top on the agenda during the recent visit of the Sudanese Minister of Petroleum Hamad Zaid Awad to Juba last week, a source said.
Barnaba will attempt to persuade Khartoum to reduce the fees in response to a drop of oil prices at global markets by about 50%, the Chinese News Agency reported.
“When compensation and assistance agreements were reached by the two countries nobody expected that the oil prices will drop internationally,” South Sudan minister of petroleum Stephen Dhieu was quoted as saying.
“Now when we pay transit fees as well as assistance to Sudan, what will remain in South Sudan treasury will be very little,” he added.
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