Oil production in South Sudan has dropped by 20,000 barrels per day from 190,000 barrels per day to 170,000 barrels per day due to the rising cases of coronavirus.

The pandemic has led to a drop in the rate of operations at the oil fields all over South Sudan. This was revealed in a statement by the undersecretary of the Ministry of Petroleum, Daniel Chuang, on July 20th 2020.

The country was set to produce 200,000 barrels of oil per day in 2020, with a projection of up to 350,000 barrels per day by 2025. Production in January was already up to 190,000 barrels per day before the effects of the pandemic started to kick in worldwide.

He said, “The measures put in place to contain the spread of the COVID 19 have impacted both production and the revenues from crude exports.”

The transportation logistics between Port Sudan and the Northern oil fields in Upper Nile and the Unity States are also being disrupted. The production in Upper Nile has dropped by 10,000 from 130,000 barrels per day to 120,000 barrels per day and that of Unity state has also dropped by 10,000 from 60,000 barrels per day to 50,000 barrels per day.

The commissioning of the 8,000 barrels per day Safinat refinery which was to begin operations late last year has been delayed as workers had to be evacuated from the site due to fears of a spread of the virus. The delivery of materials needed for the refinery and the oil fields from Port Kenya to port Sudan have also been put on hold.

He also expressed concerns over the further reduction in the daily production of South Sudan if the spread of the virus is not properly contained soon.

The licensing rounds which were aimed at attracting more investment to the country and part of the government’s economic recovery plan have been indefinitely postponed due to the pandemic.