"UN: South Sudan’s Oil Patch Is Living On Borrowed Time"

South Sudan continues to spend oil revenues in advance and its oil sector continues to lack transparency, according to a UN report that was made public recently. One of the newest countries in the world, South Sudan, broke from Sudan in 2011, taking with it around 350,000 bpd in oil production. But then civil war in South Sudan broke out in 2013 that further complicated oil production.  Currently, South Sudan pumps around 180,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) and it aims to grow its production in the future.

According to a report by the Panel of Experts on South Sudan...“There has been a continued lack of transparency in the oil sector. The Ministry of Petroleum has not ended the practice of pre-sale financing arrangements for South Sudanese oil, despite the recommendations of the International Monetary Fund.” Last year in March, the IMF warned South Sudan to immediately stop contracting expensive and nontransparent oil advances. South Sudan had taken loans from Chinese companies with the promise to repay them with proceeds from future oil revenues—from oil it has yet to get out of the ground.