Kenya Insights

Tag: PETRONAS

  • What You Should Know About the Injunction Blocking the Sale of a South Sudanese Crude Oil Cargo

    What You Should Know About the Injunction Blocking the Sale of a South Sudanese Crude Oil Cargo

    A dramatic legal showdown in London has thrust South Sudan’s oil industry into the global spotlight once again, exposing the deep fractures, political intrigues and high-stakes financial battles that have quietly defined Juba’s dealings with its biggest oil financiers.

    What looked like a routine tanker loading at Port Sudan turned into a full-blown international standoff when commodity giant BB Energy moved to freeze a 600,000-barrel shipment of Dar Blend crude, accusing South Sudan of diverting cargoes in breach of a financing deal.

    The injunction, granted on 18 November by the High Court in London, stopped the cargo dead in its tracks and sent shockwaves through a government that is almost entirely dependent on oil to stay afloat. Oil accounts for more than 90 percent of the country’s budget revenue.  

    The company had advanced about 100 million dollars to Juba for fuel financing under a 2024 prepayment agreement.

    In return it expected crude oil shipments to be delivered as scheduled.

    Instead it claimed the government and its state oil firm Nilepet rerouted several cargoes to third parties, triggering what legal filings described as a dramatic collapse of trust.

    BB Energy told the court that South Sudan had neither honoured its deliveries nor demonstrated the financial capacity to settle the debt, prompting the judge to note there were good grounds to believe the defendants lacked funds to meet any judgment.  

    On paper the injunction was a lethal blow.

    But behind the scenes an even more explosive political drama was unfolding in Juba.

    Within hours of taking office, South Sudan’s new Finance Minister Barnaba Bak Chol and the freshly installed Petroleum Undersecretary Chol Thon Abel scrambled to prevent a total diplomatic and commercial meltdown.

    Acting directly under instructions from President Salva Kiir, the two officials reached out to BB Energy with one mission: stop the case from escalating and convince the trader that a new era had begun.

    Their intervention worked. Just before the scheduled return-date hearing, BB Energy quietly stepped back. It suspended the legal fight and allowed the injunction to be lifted, clearing the way for the tanker to load, reportedly for buyers in Dubai or Singapore.

    Market insiders tell Kenya Insights that the decision was less an olive branch and more a calculated pause to give Juba a chance to fix a mess created under the previous leadership of the Petroleum Ministry.  

    What insiders describe is a ministry that, under former vice-president Benjamin Bol Mel’s influence, had descended into chaos.

    Bol Mel, now under house arrest, is accused of presiding over a period marked by distrust, opaque deals and tense relations with long-standing partners including Petronas, Afreximbank, QNB, Vitol and BB Energy. Competent financing channels began to dry up. Disputes multiplied. Billions in prepayment obligations piled up like a debt time bomb.

    The London injunction was the clearest sign yet of how badly things had deteriorated.

    Industry analysts say South Sudan currently owes commodity traders and Middle Eastern financiers an estimated 2.3 billion dollars, much of it tied to opaque oil-backed loans that have now pushed creditors to seek protection in foreign courts.  

    For BB Energy the temporary retreat is not forgiveness. They are preparing for a full trial before Christmas break this year. Its legal rights remain intact and its undertaking in damages has been left untouched.

    The suspension merely buys time for a political reset that Juba desperately hopes will avert catastrophe.  

    For South Sudan the stakes could not be higher. BB Energy is not just another trader.

    It has been one of the government’s most consistent financial lifelines, injecting nearly 1.3 billion dollars over the years to keep the state functioning through COVID-19, pipeline shutdowns and budget crises. Losing such a partner would send a chilling signal across global markets.

    Diplomats warn that if negotiations collapse the consequences will be severe. Credible financial players will retreat.

    Future oil deals will become more expensive and harder to secure.

    Rogue intermediaries and shadowy networks will fill the vacuum, emboldening corruption and deepening South Sudan’s economic turmoil.

    Ultimately the biggest losers would be ordinary South Sudanese citizens who rely on oil revenue to fund schools, hospitals and government salaries.

    For now Juba has bought itself breathing room.

    But the message from London is unmistakable.

    The world is watching closely, BB Energy is not letting go of its claim, and the next misstep could plunge South Sudan’s fragile oil sector into an even deeper crisis.

    This is the story behind an injunction that seemed like a legal footnote but has become a warning shot to a nation running out of chances.

  • South Sudan: $2.5 Billion Oil Advance Triggers Petroleum Undersecretary and Nilepet MD’s Downfall

    South Sudan: $2.5 Billion Oil Advance Triggers Petroleum Undersecretary and Nilepet MD’s Downfall

    The abrupt dismissal of Petroleum Undersecretary Eng. Deng Lual Wol and Nilepet Managing Director Ayuel Ngor Kuac on Tuesday evening was precipitated by their involvement in soliciting a staggering $2.5 billion advance payment from international oil companies, Kenya Insights has learned through leaked confidential documents.

    Two letters dated October 27 and 31, 2025, obtained by this publication reveal requests for $1 billion each from ONGC Nile Ganga B.V. and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPCC) against future crude oil entitlements.

    The documents, signed by Wol in his capacity as Undersecretary, sought advances to be repaid within 54 calendar months through oil shipments from the Nile Blend and Dar Blend fields operated by PETRONAS and Nile Petroleum Corporation.

    The letters represent an extraordinary financial maneuver in a nation where oil revenues have plummeted by up to 70 percent amid Sudan’s ongoing civil war, which has repeatedly disrupted the critical export pipeline to Port Sudan.

    South Sudan produces approximately 150,000 barrels per day, down from pre-war peaks of 350,000 barrels, with each disruption costing the cash-starved government millions in lost revenue.

    The first letter, addressed to Mr. Wang Gaulin, Country Manager of CNPCC, states: “The Republic of South Sudan Government through the Ministry of Petroleum is requesting an advance payment of USD 1,000,000,000 (Only One Billion United States Dollars) against crude oil entitlements owned by PETRONAS and currently under Nile Petroleum Corporation.”

    The correspondence specifies that payback would occur through joint marketing arrangements, with lenders authorized to lift equivalent oil volumes monthly as agreed.

    The second letter, directed to Mr. Rengit John, Country Manager of ONGC Nile Ganga B.V., contains identical language and financial terms, bringing the total requested advance to $2 billion.

    Both letters conclude with assurances that loan agreements would be finalized within one month of receipt, pending acceptance of the requests.

    Sources within the Ministry of Petroleum indicate the advance scheme was conceived as a lifeline for a government facing acute liquidity crises.

    Juba has struggled to pay civil servants for months, with bank withdrawal limits capped at 50,000 South Sudanese pounds daily due to foreign currency shortages.

    The South Sudanese pound has lost over 40 percent of its value against the dollar in 2025, fueling inflation that has left basic commodities unaffordable for millions.

    However, the solicitations appear to have violated protocols within the fragile unity government.

    First Vice President Riek Machar’s SPLM-IO faction controls the Petroleum Ministry, and sources suggest the letters were dispatched without full cabinet consultation or approval from Finance Ministry oversight mechanisms established under the 2018 peace accord.

    “This was a unilateral move that bypassed key stakeholders,” a senior government official told Kenya Insights on condition of anonymity.

    “It exposed the administration to accusations of mortgaging future oil revenues without transparency.”

    The timing of the letters, sent just weeks before the purge orchestrated by presidential daughter Adut Salva Kiir Mayardit, suggests they triggered alarm within State House.

    Oil revenues constitute over 95 percent of South Sudan’s national budget, and advance payment schemes carry risks of debt entrapment and reduced future fiscal flexibility.

    International financial institutions, including the International Monetary Fund, have repeatedly warned Juba against opaque oil-backed loans following previous arrangements with Qatar Petroleum that saddled the nation with unfavorable terms.

    Wol, a veteran oil engineer with over 16 years in infrastructure projects, had been positioned as Kuac’s replacement in the initial purge reported by Kenya Insights on November 24.

    His involvement in the advance payment scheme, however, appears to have sealed his fate alongside Kuac, whose tenure at Nilepet was already marred by salary strikes, money laundering allegations tied to Kenyan real estate, and operational paralysis.

    Neither ONGC Nile Ganga nor CNPCC has publicly commented on the requests.

    Both companies hold significant stakes in South Sudan’s oil blocks, with ONGC operating in the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company consortium and CNPCC holding interests through PetroDar Operating Company.

    Industry analysts note that $2 billion in advances would represent nearly two years of South Sudan’s current oil export earnings, a massive liability that could deter lenders already wary of the nation’s instability.

    The dismissals, announced via terse presidential decrees broadcast on state media Tuesday, installed Gen. Santino Deng Wol as the new Petroleum Undersecretary and left the Nilepet Managing Director post vacant pending further appointments.

    No mention was made of house arrest, though earlier reports indicated such measures were under consideration for officials accused of financial impropriety.

    Opposition figures have seized on the revelations. “This is textbook mismanagement disguised as crisis response,” said Mabior Garang, spokesperson for the SPLM-IO.

    “Mortgaging our oil future without parliamentary scrutiny or public debate is a betrayal of South Sudan’s sovereignty.”

    Civil society groups, including the Sudd Institute, have called for an independent audit of all oil-backed financing agreements and transparent publication of terms.

    For Adut Salva Kiir Mayardit, the purge underscores her expanding influence over the levers of economic and security power.

    By excising figures linked to opaque financial schemes, she signals a zero-tolerance posture toward initiatives that could undermine her father’s grip on oil revenues or expose the administration to international scrutiny.

    Whether this represents genuine reform or consolidation of dynastic control remains a subject of fierce debate in Juba’s corridors of power.

    As South Sudan lurches toward delayed 2026 elections, the leaked letters illuminate the desperation gripping a government hemorrhaging legitimacy and cash.

    The $2.5 billion gambit, now exposed, may have cost two senior officials their careers. The question haunting Juba is whether it also cost the nation its financial future.

    Kenya Insights continues to investigate oil sector dealings in South Sudan. Documents or tips can be sent to us through our confidential contacts.