GoSS Finance Ministry Believes Northern Oil

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 001027 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV EPET EFIN PBTS SU SUBJECT: GoSS Finance Ministry Believes Northern Oil Numbers, Wants Border Settled ¶1. (SBU) According to Under Secretary for Finance Isaac Makur Ater, the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning now believes that the federal Government of national Unity (GNU) Ministry of Finance and National Economy is providing the true numbers regarding oil production. The South still claims it is owed another USD 200 million from 2005, largely from the oil stabilization fund, but this is due to a technical correction and not any disagreement over the raw numbers. ¶2. (SBU) Ater, who is also the ranking SPLM representative on the Joint Technical Committee of the National Petroleum Commission, feels the biggest problem now is that the GNU is refusing to release any revenues from wells near the border until the border commission completes its work. That means the south is only getting revenue from two oil wells around Bentiu. ¶3. (SBU) The GoSS is currently trying to collecting revenues from some oil wells that have just come online near the border in Upper Nile State, but these revenues may be held as well even though the border in that area was never in dispute. Because the Abyei Boundaries Commission report has yet to be implemented, the GNU is also holding all revenues from that area. STEINFELD