Kenya has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Sudan to facilitate the importation of 500,000 barrels of crude oil monthly into the country. A press release from the Sudanese Embassy said the MoU was signed by Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula and his Sudanese counterpart Deng Alor Kuol on August 18, in Nairobi.
The pact also requires the Kenya National Oil Corporation and Sudan Petroleum Corporation to sign another agreement on how to implement the deal. Kenya will be a third Sudan neighbour to benefit from such arrangement if the agreement is fully implemented, the Embassy said.
The mission said the new developments would not have been possible without peace that has prevailed in Sudan since 2005. He said by hosting the peace process and relentless efforts towards achieving it, Kenya was instrumental in fulfilling the country’s goals. The statement said lasting peace and stability has the potential of opening more areas of cooperation between countries in the region.
He expressed hope that if peace prevails, new avenues of integration and widening of existing ones would serve to benefit people of the region. The signing of the MoU comes at a time when inflation brought about by high prices of crude oil has made the cost of basic commodities unaffordable.
By importing crude oil from her neighbouring, Kenya will be able to cut production costs for many basic commodities. Kenya hosted the Sudanese Peace talks in Nairobi that culminated in the signing of a peace agreement in 2005 between Khartoum and Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM) rebels. The signing of the MoU between the two states follows a recent settlement of a dispute between North and South Sudan over the control of the oil rich Abyei region.
Source: Kenya times