Seven years after South Sudan became independent, leaving behind a sanguinary civil war, it finally reached the point where it places its bets on development and not on incessant internal conflict. The basis for this is this August’s Khartoum agreement between President Salva Kiir and a former vice president-turned-rebel leader Riek Machar, putting in place a total ceasefire and opening up the way for economic development for the war-torn country. Ironically, the country from which South Sudan wanted to break away, Sudan, is now a crucial partner in rebuilding the world’s youngest nation’s shattered infrastructure and shut-in production wells. What does it mean for the international oil community, though? The united Sudan was a relative newcomer to the oil sector, having started oil production in 1999. This, however, did not interfere in oil output increasing significantly in the first years of the 21st century, with production peaking at 520 […]