South Sudan is one of Africa’s mineral-rich countries with the potential to create tremendous wealth for its citizens. The potential of the country to continue harnessing its crude oil reserves is still huge and this can even be used for the development of other industries such as financial services, manufacturing, agriculture among many others. There is the confidence that there will be more growth in the Oil and Gas sector, and this will have a positive impact on the economy through direct and indirect means such as enhancing local content, capacity building, infrastructure development, employment opportunities, and global visibility and credibility.
To put its potential into perspective, South Sudan has the third-largest oil reserves in sub-Saharan Africa after Angola and Nigeria, estimated at 3.5 billion barrels. Despite rising production before COVID-19, only 30% of the total reserves have been explored to date, pointing to the frontier market for new or existing investors. Today, production levels in the country stand at 186,000 barrels per day (bpd).
South Sudan’s Ministry of Petroleum has set a target of producing 350,000 to 400,000 bpd by the end of 2025. To this end, Stanbic Bank South Sudan has been a key partner in the oil and gas sector to ensure that these goals are met, and South Sudan becomes a leading oil and power hub in Africa. The efficient and equitable management of the energy and power sector, with social and environmental safeguards in place, will lead to enhanced social and economic development. The key to realizing these goals and ensuring that the benefits trickle down to all the stakeholders in the country is ensuring that there are robust structures that support partnerships and local content as drivers of economic activity.
The private sector is recognized as a critical stakeholder and partner in economic development, a provider of income, goods, and services, to enhance people’s lives and help them escape poverty. In the Oil and Gas industry, a solid partnership framework brings together various providers such as utilities, technology, financial services, contractors, logistics, and energy service providers. Financial Institutions also play a significant role in supporting the private sector by providing knowledge, partnerships, and solutions that help manage risks and catalyse productivity. They support a myriad of entrepreneurial initiatives that help developing industries across the value chain achieve sustainable economic growth.
Stanbic Bank plays a pivotal role in the Oil and Gas sector in creating a framework of partnerships between the public and private sectors. The bank has been able to unlock strategic partnerships with the government, local and international operators that include the Ministry of Petroleum, Petronas, China National Petroleum Corporation, the joint operating companies, and other organisations in the energy and power sector. Our business is focused on the needs of our South Sudanese clients and driving their growth in the context of South Sudan’s economy. We have increasingly played a significant role in facilitating the flow of liquidity within the sector. This has provided national financial support for business continuity and boosted employment and productivity in the country.
The bank believes that ensuring a strong financial services sector is key to supporting local content and Stanbic Bank South Sudan has invested in various products to provide new and innovative solutions to local businesses such as Digitisation.
We have also done a lot of work in enabling trade and our role in digitizing transactions in South Sudan to enable families to support each other financially especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe these will play a major role in the rebound period for the country.
Through Stanbic’s online capabilities, clients in the Oil and Gas sector can access a wide range of products and services that include but are not limited to; Telegraphic Transfers, Electronic Funds Transfer, Real-Time Gross Settlements, inter-account transfers, tax payments, foreign currency conversions, salary processing, reconciliation and reporting, real-time access to balances and statements, ATM services and VISA debit cards (primary and secondary). These solutions support local and international companies to receive and transfer funds to employees and international suppliers with ease.
