JUBA, Aug 8 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan seeks to boost cooperation in the oil sector with neighboring Kenya, a newcomer in the oil business.
Daniel Awow Chuang, South Sudan petroleum minister, and his Kenyan counterpart John Munyes met in Juba on Wednesday and discussed ways of enhancing cooperation in the areas of oil infrastructure development and experience sharing, state-owned radio South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC) reported Thursday.
"In the quest of evacuation of crude oil from Kenyan oilfields to the international market, there is need for cooperation between South Sudan, Kenya and Uganda and probably DRC," Chuang said.
Kenya announced last week that it made its first ever oil export of 200,000 barrels since the discovery of crude oil in the east African nation in 2012.
"My visit was to engage my colleague on how we can share experiences, learn from each other and find ways of cooperating in the area of infrastructure and building oil pipelines together," Munyes said.
Munyes said the talks also touched on how the countries in the east African region could build a joint pipeline to Kenya's coast.
"There is a hope of having a joint pipeline together where the DRC, South Sudan and Kenya will come together so that our countries share the infrastructure through the port of Lamu," Munyes added.
In 2012, landlocked South Sudan agreed a deal with Kenya to build an oil pipeline to connect the conflict-torn country to the Kenyan port of Lamu in a bid to reduce the country's over-reliance on its northern neighbor, Sudan for its oil export. The project estimated to cost around 3 billion U.S. dollars is yet to start.
