Canadian oil company Fosters Resources has signed a deal to search for oil in Sudan despite allegations that multinationals are aggravating the situation in the civil war there.
A Fosters subsidiary, Melut Petroleum, expects to spend $30million exploring and developing the concession in Sudan over the next three years. Drilling in the area is expected to begin later this year.
Fosters’ announcement follows a recent Canadian government investigation into the Sudanese operations of Canada’s largest international oil firm, Talisman Energy, which concluded that its activities there were exacerbating the 17-year war between the government and rebels in the south.
Human rights groups claim the Sudanese government in Khartoum is using oil revenues to fuel its war against the rebels. Talisman has strongly denied the allegations.
The United States Treasury Department also recently imposed sanctions on a consortium operating in the Heglig oil field in the south of Sudan, of which Talisman is a partner.