Relief As Fuel Prices Drop In Wau
Just a week after the resumption of South Sudan’s oil production and the reopening of the border between Sudan and South Sudan, fuel prices in Western Bahr el Ghazal State have dropped. 22 April 2013 Nile Petroleum Station in Wau. Sudan and South Sudan agreed to resume oil production last month and the first cargo would reach Port Sudan at the end of May. [Gurtong | File] By James Deng Dimo WAU, 22 April 2013[Gurtong] – The one and half litre fuel dropped from 15 South Sudanese Pounds (SSP) to 11 SSP this week. The price of fuel and other commodities had skyrocketed following a long year of South Sudan shutting down oil production. However, the transport fares remain unchanged ranging at 500 SSP between Wau and Juba with local transport within the town at 10 SSP and air travel to Juba moving as high as 700 SSP. With recent the drop of fuel price, passengers still complains that transport cost is still high. Managers of fuel stations in Wau still complaining that since South Sudan started pumping its oil last week; they are still exporting fuel from neighbouring Kenya without any change in transport cost. But fuel price has only dropped due to inflation of Sudanese trades coming from Sudan follow the reopening of the boarder. Businesspersons were cautioning the deceitful relationship that the Sudan government has taken offensively against South Sudan. Despite the resumption of South Sudan’s oil production, the Country has no single oil refinery system which would have produced the much needed oil for domestic consumption. Before and within this independent of South Sudan, the new nation has been depended on fuel imported from the neighbouring countries. South Sudan restarted oil production after agreeing with Sudan to resume cross-border flows ending a row over transit fees which brought the African neighbours close to war. Landlocked South Sudan shut down its oil production in January 2012 after failing to agree with Khartoum over oil fees, throwing both nations into turmoil. The first cargo would reach Port Sudan at the end of May. The shutdown had worsened economic crises in both countries as they depend heavily on crude exports for state revenues and use the foreign currency to import food and fuel. This is especially true for South Sudan where oil used to make up 98 percent of state revenues in one of the world's least developed countries. Sudan has also badly felt the shutdown because transit fees are a major source of dollars after the country lost three-quarters of oil production when the South seceded. Posted in: Home, Business -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
