A Chinese state oil major that already dominates most of South Sudan’s oil production is poised to play an even larger role in the African country’s efforts to boost its oil output and revenues. China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC)—which holds stakes in the two joint venture companies pumping nearly all of South Sudan’s current 165,000 bpd—signed at the end of last month a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with South Sudan’s oil ministry to boost existing production and consider acquisitions of new acreage, South Sudan’s Oil Minister Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth told S&P Global Platts in an interview last week. The minister hopes that CNPC could also enter into an exploration and production sharing agreement for two large blocks in central South Sudan, for which a consortium of France’s Total, Africa-focused Tullow Oil, and Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC) failed to reach an agreement with the country after years of […]