Negotiations are underway with Gulf countries for participation in major infrastructure projects in Khartoum, Sudan's minister of industry and investment, Abdel Halim Al Mutafi, was quoted as saying by the Gulf News daily Saturday.
Sudan will also offer two additional oil concessions, taking the number of consortia to five by year-end, said the minister, who is currently in Abu Dhabi for bilateral talks with Emirati officials.
Gulf companies are expected to participate actively in the bids, said Mutafi.
"Awarding the new concessions - Block 15 (both offshore and onshore) and Block 8 (Blue Nile) - is part of the government's move to raise additional revenues which can then be utilized to meet the country's infrastructure needs," Mutafi said.
"With the new consortia coming in, I am sure the full capacity of the existing pipeline, about 450,000 barrels a day, will be used up by 2005. This should create the need for more pipelines."
Sudan gets 25 million dollars a month from oil exports, said the paper, adding that it exports 85,000 barrels a day, which is expected to be doubled in two years.
Currently, three consortia are participating in Sudan's oil sector. One is led by CNPC of China and Malaysia's Petronas, the second has the UAE's Arabian African Oil Company as a major shareholder along with CNPC, and the third has the UAE-Austria joint venture OMV alongside Petronas and IPC.
"We have identified power, roads, railways and Nile transport for private sector participation. We have had interest expressed from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Japan and Malaysia," said Mutafi -- Albawaba.com
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