South Sudan is taking legal action against Sudan over claims that its neighbour is stealing its oil.

Media reports from Khartoum say that the world’s newest country is taking the Sudan government to a “specialised international tribunal” for seizing as much as 120,000 barrelsa day (b/d) in lieu of unpaid fees for transporting the oil to Port Sudan for export.  

Khartoum claims that the seizure of oil is necessary due to South Sudan using its oil pipeline. South Sudan claims that as much as $350m worth of oil has already been seized. Previous attempt to strike a deal over transport costs have failed.

South Sudan now owns around 75 per cent of the former country’s oil reserves, but has yet to build its own infrastructure to transport for export. A pipeline through Kenya is being planned, but will take anything up to 12 months to build.

Oil makes up 98 per cent of revenues for South Sudan, but the newly formed government is not producing oil until the dispute has been settled.