Times of recession usually bring up overused terms like belt-tightening or company restructuring though distressed periods are just as useful for settling old scores and shaping up new partnerships. Testifying to the purifying effects of market downturns, Sudan and South Sudan, countries that share the painful experience of the Second Sudanese Civil War which pitted them one against another, are edging closer to increase cooperation by making the shared hydrocarbon reserves a joint venture instead of two separate ones. Juba and Khartoum have signed a draft agreement on the latter’s involvement in South Sudan’s oil production, providing technical and financial aid to restart Block 5A (part of the Nile Blend crude stream). Seemingly a small step, yet one which might kickstart a further intertwinement of the two states’ energy sectors. Sudan will help its southern neighbor to relaunch production from Block 5A (the oil-prolific block which has set off […]