Refinery shutdown: fuel crisis looms in Sudan

Economists have predicted the Sudan will face a serious fuel crisis in the coming months following the scheduled shutdown of the El Jeili refinery north of Khartoum in early March, for maintenance and the final decommissioning of the Port Sudan refinery.

Economic analyst Kamal Karrar foresees a lack of fuel and cooking gas during the refinery’s maintenance period. He attributed the looming crisis to the inability of the government to import the quantities of fuel needed to cover consumption, and the termination of services of qualified personnel in the energy sector.

He accused the authorities of corruption. “The periodic maintenance dates for the refinery are not announced to give the people the opportunity to store the necessary fuel reserves, as most other countries do. The aim is to enable affiliates and brokers to store fuel so as to sell in the black market which will increase the burden on the people.”

Overdue

MPs have earlier warned of a possible explosion of the El Jeili refinery, located north of Khartoum state, as a result of overdue periodic maintenance.

MP Abdallah Abdelrahman reported that the Chinese company operating the Khartoum oil refinery has submitted requests to the government to provide workers and evacuate the area to face a possible explosion of the refinery as a result of the delayed periodic maintenance.

On Tuesday, Oil Minister Saadeldin El Bushra also warned against the political and economic impact should there be a major incident at the refinery.

The refinery’s shutdown will already cost the state about 17 shipments of petroleum products, he said.

Speaker of the Parliament Ibrahim Omar announced the final withdrawal of a major Chinese oil company as a result of the accumulation of debts by the government.

Chairman of the Economic Affairs Committee of the Sudan Parliament, Ali Mahmoud, has attributed the economic problems experienced by the country to “the government buying US Dollars from the black market for the purpose of buying oil. This led to the decrease of the Sudanese Pound and the rise in prices of consumer goods.”