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oil and gas

Landlocked South Sudan, which shut down its entire output in a row with Khartoum over oil fees last year, needs to export its oil through the Sudanese port of Port Sudan.Denny Thurston/Getty Images/iStockphoto

South Sudan's first oil exports will reach Sudan in mid-April after resuming production, Sudan's state news agency SUNA said on Wednesday, citing a senior oil official.

After months of negotiations both African countries agreed earlier this month to resume cross-border oil-flows after tensions between them eased.

Landlocked South Sudan, which shut down its entire output in a row with Khartoum over oil fees last year, needs to export its oil through the Sudanese port of Port Sudan.

The first southern cargo would cross Sudan's border between April 15 and 20 and then go to Port Sudan, Awad Abdel-Fattah, secretary-general in Sudan's oil ministry, told SUNA.

South Sudan's oil minister said on March 14 oil firms in the South had been ordered to restart production, which he said would take two to three weeks.

South Sudan was producing about 350,000 barrels per day before it shut down its oil output. Both countries depended heavily on crude exports for state revenues and the foreign currency they use to import food and fuel.

South Sudan seceded from Sudan in 2011 under a 2005 peace deal which ended one of Africa's longest civil wars but both countries are still at loggerheads over ownership of disputed territories and other issues.

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