20110731
Reuters
JUBA, (Reuters) - South Sudan has agreed with Khartoum that it will a pay a pipeline transit fee for its oil in line with international standards after the north dropped its demand for a "discriminatory" $22.8 a barrel, a senior southern official said on Saturday.

The comments could ease tensions between the two countries after the South, the newest African nation, accused Khartoum on Monday of "broad daylight robbery" and starting an economic war.

South Sudan became independent from Sudan on July 9, taking with it 75 percent of the African country's 500,000 barrels a day of oil production -- the lifeline for north and south.

South Sudan will have to pay Khartoum a fee to carry its oil through a pipeline to the countries' only Red Sea port but the two have yet to agree on how to divide oil revenues that have so far been split equally.

Khartoum has withdrawn an earlier request for a pipeline fee of $22.8 per barrel -- about 20 percent of the oil's export value -- said Pagan Amum, secretary general of the ruling southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM).

Both sides agreed at talks in Ethiopia that the South would pay a fee in line with international norms, Amum said after his return from Addis Ababa, without being specific.

"We will be paying pipeline fees ... and also we will be paying transit fees that are within the international practices and standards," he told reporters.

"This discussion brought to an end the attempt to impose discriminatory surcharges by the government in Khartoum, who announced they would impose $22.8 per barrel ... They have withdrawn officially this position," he said.

There was no immediate reaction by the northern government, which had not confirmed the $22.8 a barrel demand announced by the South on Monday.

The dispute over sharing oil revenues could threaten to disrupt the flow of crude from the country, a significant exporter to China and Japan.

The South won its independence in a referendum in January agreed under a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war with the North.

Analysts say there has been little transparency for years on how oil revenues are booked in Sudan, hit by years of conflict, inflation, corruption and U.S. trade sanctions.