The government of South Sudan announced that preparations are complete for the resumption of oil transportation through Sudan, with exports expected to resume soon.

South Sudan will soon resume pumping crude oil for export through a port in neighboring Sudan, as announced by a South Sudanese government official in a statement to Reuters on Thursday. This follows successful repairs to a crucial pipeline that was damaged during the ongoing conflict in Sudan.

War erupted between Sudan's military, known as the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April of the previous year, leading to widespread displacement and exacerbating food scarcity across the country.

Oil exports transported via this pipeline in Sudan are a crucial revenue source for South Sudan, accounting for approximately 90% of its foreign exchange income. As a transit country, Sudan also benefits from this arrangement by receiving a transit fee.

Tut Gatluak Manime, the head of a South Sudanese delegation that recently traveled to Port Sudan for discussions on resuming oil exports, stated that officials had conducted inspections of all production sites along the pipeline.

"We reviewed all the pipelines. Some were frozen but were subsequently cleaned using hot water and certain chemicals. Now the pipelines are prepared for full-scale oil production from South Sudan," he reported.

Officials from South Sudan's Ministry of Energy are set to meet a team of Sudanese engineers on Saturday to develop a plan for restarting oil flows within the next few days, according to Manime. However, he did not specify an exact date for the resumption.

Before the damage, South Sudan was sending between 100,000 and 150,000 barrels of crude oil per day through Sudan for export.

Analysts note that the damage to the pipeline has caused environmental contamination and led to an increase in food prices, adding to the hardship in a region already facing a severe hunger crisis.