The secession of South Sudan from the North in July this year is unlikely to affect the fortunes of ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), the overseas investment arm of ONGC, which has assets in both the North and the South, senior Sudan Government officials have said.

“The issue of division of assets is still under discussion. Normally, worldwide, the most well known way is division of assets on geographical basis. The leaders of the two countries (the soon to be created South Sudan and the existing North Sudan) are committed to creating cooperation between the North and the South. There is a lot of goodwill so that even if the oil fields straddle, the two countries, they will make an area of joint development, as happens in other parts of the world,” Dr Omer Mohmmed Kheir, Secretary General, Ministry of Petroleum, Sudanese Petroleum Corporation, told a group of visiting Indian media persons.

The media persons were on a familiarisation trip of Africa, sponsored by the Ministry of External Affairs ahead of the India-Africa summit meeting scheduled for May, which is to be attended by the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh.

OVL is part of a consortium that includes the Chinese and Malaysian company, Petronas, which is in the oil business in Sudan.

Officials claimed that although according to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed between North and South Sudan, it has been agreed that the assets in the respective regions will belong to the Governments of the respective regions, there was also the issue of complementarity of oil assets.

Sudanese Government officials claimed that despite the US sanctions, several western countries were interested in the oil sector in this African country.

“Not only several Arab countries like Saudi and Emirates but also Switzerland, Turkey and Germany have shown interest (in the Sudanese oil sector),” a senior Government official said.

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