Block 5A

Block 5A
Oil concessions in Sudan & South Sudan as of 2004. Block 5A in the center of the fields.
Location of Block 5A
Country	South Sudan
Region	Unity State
Block	5A
Offshore/onshore	Onshore
Coordinates	8°44′38″N 30°08′25″E / 8.743947°N 30.140401°E / 8.743947; 30.140401Coordinates: 8°44′38″N 30°08′25″E / 8.743947°N 30.140401°E / 8.743947; 30.140401
Operators	Petronas, ONGC Videsh, Nilepet
Field history
Discovery	.
Production
Producing formations	.

Block 5A is an oil concession in South Sudan. After oil field development began during the Second Sudanese Civil War, Block 5A was the scene of extensive fighting as rival militias struggled for control. Out of an original population of 240,000, an estimated 12,000 were killed or died of starvation and 160,000 were displaced by force. Production started in 2006. There is evidence that the environmentally sensitive marshlands beside the Nile are becoming polluted. European companies have been accused of complicity in clearance of the population from the oil field.

The Block 5A concession covers the central part of Unity State on the west of the White Nile, extending west into Warrap State and East into Jonglei State to the east of the Nile. Block 5A is part of a huge, fertile floodplain fed by rivers from the Congo, Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia. In the dry season the land becomes parched. Pastoralists move their herds from one area to another in search of grazing, usually staying close to a river or permanent wetland. In the wet season, the low-lying lands are covered in flood water, and the herders move to higher ground. Block 5A is populated by Nuer people of the Bul, Leek, Jagei, Western Jikany and Dok sections. The town of Leer, in Dok Nuer territory, is in a key position in the block. On the east of the Nile the southern part of Zeraf island lies in Block 5a, populated mostly by Thiang Nuer.

Geologically, Block 5A is located in the Muglad Basin, which extends from South Sudan north into Sudan and is rich in oil deposits. The Thar Jath field in Block 5A has an area of 54 square kilometres (21 sq mi). Reserves at the Thar Jath field are said to be 250 million barrels. Mala field was expected to start production with 10,000 bpd in 2007 which would go up to 20,000 bpd by 2008. Mala was thought to have 44 million barrels of reserves. Oil has also been found in Jarayan field.

Sudan was in a state of civil war for most of the years following independence in 1956, apart from a temporary respite between 1972 and 1983. After hostilities resumed, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) captured Leer from the government in March 1986, and the town became a stronghold of the rebel commander Riek Machar, who had been born there. In August 1991 Riek Machar broke away from John Garang's mainstream branch of the SPLM/A. Machar's breakaway faction was called the SPLM/A-Nasir faction from 1991 to 1993, and then the South Sudan Independence Army (SSIA) from 1994 to 1997. In 1996 Riek signed a Political Charter and in 1997 the Khartoum Peace Agreement with the government. Riek was made commander in chief of the South Sudan Defense Force (SSDF), which included most of the ex-rebels who had signed the Khartoum agreement. His forces controlled Block 5A.