Publications

Survey of Energy Resources 2007

Crude Oil and Natural Gas Liquids Country Notes

Several oil fields, including Heglig and Unity, were discovered in south-central Sudan in the early 1980s but terrorist action forced the companies concerned to withdraw. Other foreign companies started to undertake exploration and development activities some 10 years later. Most published sources quote Sudan's proved recoverable reserves at end-2005 as lying within a narrow range: (in millions of barrels) OAPEC 6 320; BP 6 400; World Oil 6 402 (adopted for the present Survey) and OPEC 6 405. The one exception is Oil & Gas Journal, which showed only 563 million barrels for reserves at end-2005, but has increased them to 5 billion barrels as at-end 2006.

Commercial production from the Heglig field began in 1996, since when Sudan has developed into an oil producer and exporter of some significance, a key factor being the construction of a 250 000 b/d export pipeline to the Red Sea. Sudan's oil production in 2005 averaged 355 000 b/d.