The Minister of Finance says oil production has declined by more than 30,000 barrels per day since 2015.

Stephen Dhieu Dau says the blocks in the former Upper Nile have been producing about 160,000 barrels daily after the conflict began in 2013. But this has now reduced to less than 130,000 barrels.

This comes amidst government announcements that it wants to raise the crude output.

The Minister of Petroleum in December last year said South Sudan agreed to reduce its oil production once it hits 350,000 barrels per a day this year.

This was as a result of OPEC Member Countries agreeing to implement a production adjustment of 1.2 million barrels a day effective from 1st January 2017.

Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth said the decision was taken to control the persistent oversupply and record inventories in the global oil market.

Countries such as South Sudan and Sudan who are still non-OPEC producers proposed to adjust their oil production, voluntarily.https://www.eyeradio.org/south-sudan-comply-opec-deal-boosting-oil-production/

Mr Lol said he was working hard to ensure the wells produces 350000 barrels a day, and then from there move to cut 8000 barrels a day.

However, the Finance Minister, Dhieu told a news conference over the weekend that the oil facility in Unity state has not been functional.

He said the decline in the production rate is due to the fall in prices in the world market, which he says has discouraged investors from putting more money into production.

“There is no new drilling. So it comes down to around 130,000 [barrels]. To my knowledge, today, we are below 130,000 -maybe 120,000 or 125,000 [barrels per day],” says Dhieu.

He added that the lack of new investments in the oil sector has left the government benefiting from production in Block 3 and 7 as a result of the [limited] supply and other technical problems.

Before the crisis in 2013, Mr Dhieu says South Sudan was producing 240, 000 barrels per a day. 40,000 barrels were from the former Unity State and 200, 000 were in Block 3 and 7 in former Upper Nile State.

Mr. Dhieu says the government now intends to raise the overall production to at least 160,000 barrels daily.

In January, the Chinese National Petroleum Company said it will continue to work with the government of South Sudan to improve oil production in the country.

The firm’s President, Jia Young said joint efforts with the Ministry of Petroleum will be focused on the resumption of production in Unity oil fields.