Environmentalist predict depletion of South Sudan’s oil in 50 years

JUBA – A senior researcher at the Sudd Institute, a Juba-based research organization, has predicted that South Sudan’ oil will deplete in 50 years to come.

Nhial Tiitmamer, Director of the Environment and Natural Resources Program at the Sudd Institute, stressed the need to protect the environment for future generations.

“Sustainable development doesn’t mean that we must undermine our current needs [for human development] but means we must balance this with protecting the needs of future generations. In next 50 years, South Sudan’s oil will be depleted. The forests and trees we cut down today will be gone tomorrow,” he said.

Nhial, who is also a part-time lecturer at the University of Juba, called for action persevere the trees to avoid climatic change.

“They don’t come back unless we act. Our substitutive rate needs to be equal to or more than our extractive rate,” said Nhial.

South Sudan exports its crude oil via pipeline from Heglig and Paloch to Khartoum and then to Port Sudan. To keep the oil flowing, it has invited international companies to participate in investment opportunities in its refining and infrastructure sectors.

South Sudan’s economic lifeblood is intertwined with that of Sudan. Both nations are oil-dependent, but South Sudan maintains the bulk of the region’s 3.5 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, while Sudan owns the export pipelines, the refineries and sea access.