South Sudan is expected to export 4.4 million barrels of Dar Blend crude oil next month, down more than 8% compared to April, according to Platts, a petroleum industry news outlet.
Citing trade sources, Platts said 4.8 million barrels of South Sudanese Dar Blend were shipped in April. Dar Blend is a heavy, acidic crude produced from blocks 3 and 7 in South Sudan’s Upper Nile State.
Platts reported that South Sudan’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mining sold two 1 million-barrel cargoes to ship in May to Chinese consumers at a discount of $8-$8.90 per barrel. The other 2.4 million barrels are being exported by Malaysia’s Petronas and other companies, Platts said.
The May discount is higher than what the Chinese consumers received in April, when the ministry sold 2 million barrels at a $7-$7.90 per barrel discount.
Luka Biong Deng, director of the Centre for Peace and Development Studies at the University of Juba, told Platts: “In the event that conflict was to cease, we would expect oil production to increase to the levels seen in 2013 — 220,000 barrels/day.”
Related:
War Economy: special series about the effects of civil war on South Sudan’s economic situation