South Sudan has received over $3.5 billion from the sale of crude oil between June 2013 and May 2014, the country's oil minister Stephen Dhieu Dau said in a statement made available to Platts in the capital Juba on Sunday.
"As from June 2013 to May 2014, South Sudan sold a total of 35.5 million barrels (97,260 b/d) from both Nile and Dar Blends," Dau said in the statement released on Friday but distributed to journalists later.
Of the total sales, South Sudan paid Sudan $857 million for both tariffs and Transitional Financial Arrangements, or TFA, Dau said.
South Sudan's crude oil passes through the two cross-border pipelines in Sudan to facilities near Port Sudan on the Red Sea for export.
Dau said the net amount realized by South Sudan -- determined after all payments were made to Sudan, and $788 million made for payments or settlement of loans -- stands at $1.9 billion.
South Sudan's oil industry has seen a loss in oil revenue by nearly a third due to the ongoing conflict.
Rebels loyal to former vice-president Riek Machar have halted production in Unity state soon after a failed coup against President Salva Kiir in Juba on December 15. Prior to the coup attempt, Unity state used to produce 45,000 b/d of crude.
As of now, South Sudan's oil revenue comes from just the remaining functioning oil fields in Upper Nile state, where crude production is currently at 160,000 b/d.
An oil ministry source in Juba told Platts on Friday that efforts are underway to invite technicians from Sudan to help restart the oil fields in Unity state.
"I would like to express my optimism that the current operational challenges to oil operations will be resolved and the oil production will be brought back to the same level as it was in 2011," said Dau.
Oil production was at 326,000 b/d in 2011, Dau said in a 2013 report.
Chinese, Indian and Malaysian state-owned firms are key players in South Sudan's oil industry.
