Melut Basin Oil Project, Sudan

The Melut Basin in the Sudan is shaping up to be one of the major sources of crude oil in Africa. The basin is located about 700 miles south of Khartoum east of the river Nile.

From 2004 to 2007 China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) has been particularly active in the Melut basin having been awarded the concession for two producing blocks in the Western Upper Nile region. CNPC is now the largest shareholder in the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company which dominates Sudan's oil production through the PetroDar Operating Co (PetroDar).

PetroDar is a company comprising several national oil companies holding the rights for exploration and development of the contract areas, block 3 and block 7 in south-east Sudan. PetroDar consists of China National Petroleum Co International (Nile) (41% stake), Petronas Carigali Overseas (40%), Sudapet (8%), Gulf Oil Petroleum (6%) and Al Thani (5%).

NF Energy and Bentini of Italy also contribute to the project by the construction of the six pumping stations for the pipeline. Each station is equipped with three pumps, one of which is a reserve pump.

The first of the pumping stations is sited at Faluj, the second in the Jebelain area, the third is between Shawal and Kawa while the fourth is in the region of the community of Ailafoun. The fifth pump is between the towns of Aliab and Kaboshya. The sixth station is in the region between Musmar and Haya.

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Pyramids in the Sudan

On the way from Khartoum to Port Sudan, about 200 km north-east of Khartoum, near Bagrawiya, lies ancient Meroe, the home of a few dozens pyramids spread over a small hill about one quarter square kilometer in size. The pyramids, much smaller than their well-known counterparts in Egypt, are the remains of a royal cemetery from the Meroitic kingdom (between 300 B.C. and 300 A.D.).

The region of the Nile Valley which lies in the northern part of the present Sudan, has been influenced by the Egyptian civilization since the time of the Ancient Egyptian Kingdom. This influence grew stronger during the occupation by Egypt in the period of the Middle Kingdom and reached its summit after the Egyptians conquered the whole region up to the 4th Nile Cataract. The Egyptian colonization lasted for almost five centuries and came to an end when in the twelfth century B.C. the Egyptian Empire fell into pieces.

Four hundred years later it were the kings of Napata in northern Sudan who ruled the Nile Valley from the Blue Nile down to the Delta. They revived the burial customs of the pyramid many centuries after the Pharaos had stopped building them and employed Egyptian artists in their architectural works. While the Napatan kingdom had to give up Egypt in 661 B.C. and subsequently the Egyptian influence started to decline, the burial traditions still survived and, after the the transfer of the kingship to the Meroitic line in the third century B.C., were taken over by the kings of Meroe - The Kushite Kingdom.

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