The South Sudanese government has admitted that oil production may
fall even further if the civil war continues.
Oil makes up 98% of government revenue, which means any further reduction
in output could result in all out economic collapse.
Finance minister David Deng Athorbei told parliament that government resources
are already overstretched to cater for developmental projects.
Athorbei said government is expecting oil revenues to amount to three
million one hundred and eighty six South Sudanese pounds, although, production
has been cut by at least a third since the country descended into war.
Many oil wells have been damaged during fighting most oil workers were
evacuated from the oil fields already.
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| Much of South Sudan's oil infrastructure has been damaged by fighting |
Petroleum and mining minister, Stephen Dhieu Dau announced in May that
oil production had dropped to 165,000 barrels per day from between 168,000 and
169,000 barrels per day in January.
South Sudan recently tabled its budget for the coming year. The
estimated SSP 10.8 billion budget is smaller than the last year’s of SSP 11
billion, which depended on $1 billion dollars in loans from oil companies to
help cover repayments on domestic loans and previous oil advances.