The US based Black Rhino Group has reconfirmed that it may build a $2 to 3 billion refinery in South Sudan to become self-sufficient in oil products. The deal should be finalized in the second quarter of 2014. The construction of the refinery in Upper Nile will take three years.

The refinery will be a 50,000 barrel-a-day facility and “is intended to fill the gap to supply the local market in full,” O’Shea confirmed to Bloomberg News agency. A 'significant amount of refined products' could be shipped to Ethiopia in exchange for electricity that would power the facility.

South Sudan exports about 220,000 barrels a day from its oilfields via pipelines across Sudan. Imports as much as 40 million liters (10.6 million gallons) of fuel a month from Kenya. About 80 percent of imports are diesel and 20 percent gasoline. The first facility for 5,000 barrel a day facility will start to be constructed in Unity (Bentiu). South Sudan lost over $ 9 billion after borderdisputes with Sudan that stopped the production last year.

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