Sudan oil minister denies war in S. Sudan to harm oilfields

Sudan's oil minister Mohamed Zayed Awad denied on Friday that the on-going civil war in South Sudan would disturb the country's oilfields, affirming that petroleum is a source of wealth for the two neighbors.

Awad arrived in the South Sudanese capital of Juba on Friday, and met with President Salva Kiir Mayardit.

"The two warring parties in South Sudan are aware that harming the oilfields would harm all sides," Awad told reporters at Juba airport.

"We do not expect any harm to be inflicted on the oilfields", noted the Sudanese minister.

He said the cooperation between Khartoum and Juba was continuing, pointing out that the oil deal was the "most distinctive" among the agreements signed by the two countries.

The South Sudanese oil minister, Stephen Dhieu, meanwhile, said Juba welcomes bilateral cooperation in oil production sector and other domains.

The South Sudanese rebels, led by former vice president, Riek Machar, said earlier they were seeking to control the oilfields to prevent President Kiir from using the oil to prolong the war.

South Sudan's oil production has dropped by nearly 30 percent since mid-December 2013, where the country's daily oil production used to reach 245,000 barrels before the fighting broke out, but now that figure has been slashed to about 175,000 barrels.

South Sudan plunged into violence in December 2013, when fighting erupted between troops loyal to President Kiir and defectors led by his former deputy Machar.

The conflict soon turned into an all-out war, with the violence taking on an ethnic dimension that pitted the president's Dinka tribe against Machar's Nuer ethnic group.

The clashes have left thousands of South Sudanese dead and forced around 1.9 million people to flee their homes. Enditem