South Sudan announces environmental tender audit of producing oilfields

An international independent organization will be appointed to conduct the audit, suggest best practices for new exploration, and propose methods to repair historical environmental damage in South Sudan.

On the 9th of January, 2020, the Government of the Republic of South Sudan announced a tender for a comprehensive environmental audit of all the country’s producing oilfields. The Ministry of Petroleum made prequalification documents available to interested companies from its Juba headquarters, and its website. 

Due to the amount of interest, and requests from some companies to extend the deadline, the Ministry’s Environmental Tender Audit Committee has announced an extension to the deadline to submit documentation by seven (7) more days. The deadline is now 16h00, 27 January 2020.

The Ministry is treating this process as both very important and urgent. The Petroleum Act of 2012, which governs the oil sector in South Sudan, aims to improve management of the environmental impact of the sector after years of neglect prior to independence.

The civil war also prevented proper management of the environment.

President Salva Kiir has made it clear that the country needs to implement proper environmental standards and guidelines “to safeguard the exploration and exploitation in the extractive industry that has led to pollution in the oilfields and in the surrounding areas.”

The President states environmental policies, standards, and guidelines need to be formulated and enforced.

The issue is just as important for the Minister of Petroleum, Hon. Awow Daniel Chuang, who believes that understanding the pollution damage will allow the country to put systems in place to prevent further damage as the country increases oil production.

An international independent organization will be appointed to conduct the audit, suggest best practices for new exploration, and propose methods to repair historical environmental damage in South Sudan.

Tender pre-qualification documents for conducting a Full Environmental Audit will be available during office hours at the Ministry of Petroleum’s headquarters in Juba and from its website MOP-rss.org/env-audit. The documentation is available until 27 January 2020. 

(With Inputs from APO)