SUDAN NEWS ALERT: AFP - S.Sudan says renegotiating oil deal with Sudan

7/10/19: AFP - S.Sudan says renegotiating oil deal with Sudan

 AFP reports that South Sudan said it was renegotiating an oil deal with Khartoum, as it will not meet a December deadline to finish paying the $3 billion agreed as compensation for South Sudan’s 2011 secession.

 South Sudan and Sudan in 2012 signed a deal in which Juba would pay the amount after it voted for independence, taking with it 70 percent of the oil fields Khartoum used to manage.

 South Sudan’s Petroleum Minister Awou Daniel Chuang told journalists that the cash-strapped nation had paid $2.4 billion so far, but would not manage to pay the remaining $600 million by December.

 Chuang said the money was paid back by deducting $15 from each barrel of oil from South Sudan -- which is processed in Sudan's refineries.

 However, years of fighting crippled oil production and payments fell behind.