JUBA, May 28 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan on Tuesday appealed to the Sudanese warring parties to allow engineers to fix the ruptured oil pipeline for continued oil flow to Port Sudan for export to the international market.
William Anyak Deng, undersecretary in the Ministry of Petroleum, said the export of South Sudan oil to the international market through Port Sudan stopped on Feb. 6 when the pipeline suffered from leaks and pressure drops and the engineers are trying to fix them but are faced with numerous challenges.
Anyak said South Sudan's President Salva Kiir directed Presidential Advisor on National Security Tut Gatluak to engage the Sudanese warring parties to allow oil engineers to fix the ruptured oil pipeline as fighting has escalated.
Anyak told journalists in Juba, South Sudan's capital, that the engineers are facing challenges of lack of communication, accessibility, and delivery of materials to the sites especially the pump stations and some essential facilities in Sudan although they have already fixed the ruptured pipeline and are now struggling to remove the wax in the pipeline.
South Sudan is the most oil-dependent nation in the world, with oil accounting for almost the totality of exports, and around 60 percent of its gross domestic product, according to the World Bank. ■