Global Witness says oil production figures published by the Chinese National Petroleum Company (CNPC) for 2009 for the blocks it operates in Upper Nile State are 12 percent bigger than those published by Khartoum.
Global Witness campaigner, Rosie Sharpe, said the difference in question – 12 million barrels of oil – is significant. The oil is worth 370 million dollars and is enough to power a city in the US the size of San Francisco for a year.Large discrepancies persist between the oil production data published by the government of Sudan and those published by the main Chinese oil company operating in the country, Global Witness said yesterday.
This problem arises despite promises by the authorities in north and south Sudan to address the inconsistencies by conducting an audit, Relief website reported.
The promised audit is yet to take place.
Ms. Sharpe said the authorities in Khartoum are responsible for stating how much oil was produced.
The south has no way of checking whether these figures are correct and therefore whether the revenues the southern government receives are correct.
She said this is a critical issue and one which could be decisive in determining whether the upcoming referendum on independence passes off peacefully.
This new data follows the September 2009 report by Global Witness which documented discrepancies of 9 percent to 26 percent between Sudanese government data on oil production and figures published by the oil company.