Production of refined oil begins at Bentu Oil Refinery in South Sudan

Production of refined oil products at the Bentu Oil Refinery in South Sudan has commenced. Engineer Ayang Malong Deputy Managing Director and the Director of Downstream Department at the Nile Petroleum Corporation (Nilepet) confirmed the report and said that the refinery aims at producing 10,000 barrels per day.

“Three trucks of the first batch arrived in Juba the capital of S.Sudan on Saturday. That means that Nilepet has started to put the first fuel to the market. Bentiu Oil Refinery has started with the aim of producing 10,000 barrels per d. These includes diesel, and furnace and very soon we will also have enough diesel as well a little petrol in our market for domestic consumption,” said Eng Malong.

Bentiu Oil Refinery project is a joint venture project between Safinat and the national Oil & Gas Corporation of South Sudan (Nilepet). Built at a cost of US$ 100M, the Bentiu’s Oil Refinery is one of the five refineries that will have a planned total refining capacity of 127,000 barrels per day.

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South Sudan’s oil output

Currently the refinery is producing 3, 000 barrels a day of refined products with intention of expanding in the next two months according to Vice President for Nile Petroleum Group, Mr. James Lotika

“Basically, diesel is about 30%, and then heavy fuel oil, which is mostly known as furnace, is about 70% In the next two or three months, we will expand it to be 10,000 barrels a day which will also produce both products diesel and heavy fuel oil The country is expecting to have enough diesel and petrol for the domestic consumption,” said Mr. Lotika.

South Sudan’s oil output has fallen by about a third since fighting erupted between factions loyal to President Salva Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar. Violence has left thousands of people dead and forced more than a million to flee their homes, according to the United Nations. The country is currently producing about 160,000 bpd from Upper Nile, the only state still pumping crude.