Key facts
- South Sudan's petroleum ministry official reported production of 175,000 bpd in August and set a 200,000 bpd target by August 2027.
- A September report citing unnamed oil-industry sources said Juba gives the RSF $4 of the $11 charged per barrel crossing its territory.
- The army-aligned Sudanese government receives the remaining $7 per barrel, per the same report.
- Janes assesses that Sudanese processing and transit fees provide revenue used to sustain Army operations.
- APPO Secretary-General Farid Ghezali said the Africa Energy Bank had raised $500 million for deployment.
- The World Bank says proposed pipelines to Kenya or Djibouti carry high estimated costs and need a larger production base.
South Sudan is seeking capital for 14 exploration blocks and a production increase from roughly 170,000 barrels per day to 230,000, a proposition its government-backed South Sudan Oil & Power conference will put to investors in Juba at the end of November 2026. Conference organizers place current output at 170,000 bpd and describe 230,000 bpd as a short-term target. A petroleum ministry official reported production of 175,000 bpd in August and set a lower target of 200,000 bpd by August 2027.
The country's crude can only leave through Sudan, whose civil war has split control of the export route. Crude from Blocks 1, 2 and 4 enters the Greater Nile pipeline through Heglig in West Kordofan, where the paramilitary RSF displaced the Sudanese Army in December 2025. South Sudanese troops protect the installation under a tripartite agreement, while the RSF dominates the surrounding territory and the Sudanese Army controls the Red Sea terminals at the other end of the line.
That division determines who is paid. A September report citing unnamed oil-industry sources says Juba gives the RSF $4 of the $11 charged on each South Sudanese barrel crossing territory under its control, with the army-aligned government receiving the remaining $7. South Sudan has previously settled pipeline obligations with crude, although no published account identifies whether the RSF's current share is delivered in oil, cash or export proceeds. Janes assesses that Sudanese processing and transit fees provide revenue used to sustain Army operations.
The second export line, Petrodar, carries Dar Blend from Blocks 3 and 7 at Paloch through six pumping stations to the Bashair terminal on the Red Sea. A rupture in February 2024 cut South Sudan's exports by roughly two-thirds and reduced production from about 150,000 bpd to 62,000 bpd; full flows resumed in April 2025, followed by repeated drone attacks on Sudanese oil installations. The shutdown contracted South Sudan's economy by an estimated 24% in fiscal 2025. Oil supplied 89% of government revenue available to the budget in 2024 and nearly all export earnings between 2021 and 2024.
Tanker tracking recorded eight cargoes carrying 4.8 million barrels from Sudan's two Red Sea terminals in October, equivalent to combined Sudanese and South Sudanese exports of 155,000 bpd. Sudan's Heglig fields were producing about 26,000 bpd in September, all of it sent for export, according to Sudan Tribune. Public data provide no current country breakdown and no reconciliation between South Sudan's reported wellhead production and the volumes loaded at the terminals.
Juba's push comes after Afreximbank and the African Petroleum Producers' Organisation formally established the Africa Energy Bank in Abuja on October 31 with $5 billion in authorized capital. APPO Secretary-General Farid Ghezali said the bank had raised $500 million for deployment and would begin making investment decisions. A proposed 350-kilometer Tharjiath-Paloch pipeline would move Block 5A crude from its Heglig connection into the Petrodar system. The World Bank says proposed pipelines to Kenya or Djibouti carry high estimated costs and would require a larger, sustained production base to become economically viable.