FILE PHOTO: A worker walks by an oil well at the Toma South oil field to Heglig, in Ruweng State, South Sudan August 25, 2018. Picture taken August 25, 2018. REUTERS/Jok Solomun/File Photo
Dec 8 (Reuters) - Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said on Monday it had taken control of the strategic Heglig oilfield in the South Kordofan province.
Heglig, which lies along Sudan's southern border, houses the main processing facility for South Sudanese oil, which makes up much of the revenue for South Sudan's government.
Government forces and workers at the Heglig oil field withdrew from the area on Sunday to avoid clashes that could have damaged the oil facilities, government sources told Reuters.
A source working at the Heglig oil field said that the army and oil workers had withdrawn into South Sudan.
Oil is transported through the Greater Nile pipeline system to Port Sudan on the Red Sea for export, making the Heglig site vital both for Sudan's hard-currency earnings and for South Sudan, which is landlocked and relies almost entirely on pipelines through Sudan.
The war that erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and the RSF has repeatedly disrupted South Sudan's oil flows, which before the conflict averaged between 100,000 and 150,000 barrels per day for export via Sudan.
(Reporting by Jana Choukeir and Khalid AbdelazizEditing by Bernadette Baum)
