South Sudan: A new republic built on oil

Oil was the elephant in the room on independence day. But it’s as crucial to South Sudan’s future as it was to its past

Article includes a review of oil strategy; oil infrastructure map; timeline to Independence; and a guide to who’s who AS SOUTH Sudanese, still ecstatic from celebrating their independence from Sudan, stopped to talk while they cleaned away the detritus of the previous day’s celebrations around the John Garang Mausoleum in Juba, one small, but crucial word was absent from the conversation. Oil. No-one uttered it, but evidence of oil, and the connections to it, were everywhere in Juba, ever-present and deliberately downplayed. Malaysia’s Petronas had erected banners around the new capital, congratulating South Sudan on its hard-earned independence. PetroChina and China National Petroleum Corpo