Subject:
Impact of petroleum driven conflict between north and south sudan
Problem:
North and South Sudan struggle to resolve disputes of petroleum between each other, while trying to supply petroleum to foreign buyers and their influences within the countries.
Background:
In January 1956 Sudan gained its independence from the British and Egyptian, during this time Sudan was in its first civil war which lasted 17 years (1955-1972). One of the driving factors of the dispute was that, the North is primarily Sunni muslim while the south of Sudan is mainly Christian. [1,2,3] In 1974, Chevron was granted oil concession from Sudan and discovered oil in 1978 in the Western upper Nile and Unity state. [4] The second civil war broke out in 1983 due to President Gaafar muhammad nimeiry imposing sharia law throughout the country. The new laws transferred control of the southern armed force to the central government and made Arabic as the official language. Southern soldiers did not comply to transferring power to the north and mutinied throwing the country into another civil war. [2,3,4] Chevron suspended operations in 1985 and sold its rights to Sudan. Multiple factors lead to chevron's decision to pull out, but mainly it was from the civil war and employees being killed or taken as hostages. In 1992 Arakis Energy Corporation acquired what Chevron owned. Arakis was not able to raise enough capital to finance the project in 1996 and had to sell 75 percent of its shares. Three state owned oil companies; China, Malaysia, and Sudan bought into the projects. These three agreed to build a 1,540 kilometer pipeline from the oilfields in southern Sudan to a port at the red sea. Economic sanctions were placed on Sudan in 3 november 1997 by the U.S. state department. This is because the U.S. state department designated Sudan as a country that supported terrorism. The petroleum pipeline and an oil refinery was completed on schedule in 1999. From 1998 to 2001 approximately...