South Sudan may supply Sudan with crude oil in exchange for imports of electricity, according to a tentative agreement signed Wednesday.

An official at Sudan's Ministry of Energy and Mining told Radio Tamazuj that South Sudan will supply the Um Dabakir power station in White Nile with crude oil produced in Adar Yeil, while Sudan will extend electrical power from Kosti to South Sudan.

The official said the two countries' two energy ministries signed the agreement at the level of technical committees so far, and that the matter will be coordinated with the oil transit department at the ministry.

She pointed out that work will start after a final signing by the two ministers.

The Um Dabakir facility produces 500,000 megawatts of power, the official said, added that the station was one of the projects built in an effort to make unity attractive before the independence of South Sudan in 2011.

Earlier this month, South Sudan’s minster of petroleum and mining Stephen Dhieu Dau announced that South Sudan will take steps to resume production at the oil fields in Unity state in exchange for electricity from Heglig (Panthou).

This came after the visit by a Sudanese ministerial delegation headed by minister of energy and mining Makkawi Mohamed Awad to Juba.

File photo: Renk town at dusk.