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Sudan News 02-22-2007
White Nile Ltd, a U.K.
exploration and production company run by the former England cricketer Phil
Edmonds, has experienced a court setback in its battle with the French giant
Total over a key oil concession in Southern
Sudan.
On 31 January White Nile was ordered by the Court of Appeal to disclose documents which confirm its rights over Block Ba in the south of the Sudan.
The White Nile has long opposed such a move, but following the judgment it has no choice other than to release the documents as the court has refused it permission for any further appeals. Total’s legal cost has been forwarded to White Nile expense.
The dispute centres on White Nile's rights over
60 per cent of Block Ba, a 67,000-square-kilometre site in southern Sudan that
is the company's key asset. In February 2005, it secured the concession from the
government of southern Sudan.
However, Total has claimed all along that this infringes on exploration rights
it won from the country's central government in Khartoum in 1980. The two
companies have been locked in a court battle for
more than a year,
A spokesman for White Nile said: "White Nile does not believe that the British High Court is an appropriate forum to determine the rights to oil resources in southern Sudan." He added that the company is convinced it has full title over Block Ba.
In December, Sudan oil minister Awad Ahmed al-Jaz described White Nile's exploration licence in the south of the country as "illegal". He argued that the French oil major Total was legally entitled to explore the area.
Mr Ahmed al-Jaz is a representative of Sudan's central government in Khartoum. White Nile's licence was granted to it by an autonomous authority in the south of the country which fought a bitter war with the Khartoum government for 20 years until an uneasy peace was struck in January 2005.
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