Oil storage tanks destroyed at Sudan's Khartoum refinery in latest fighting

The oil product storage tanks at Sudan's sole refinery, the 100,000 b/d al-Jaili plant near Khartoum, were destroyed in an explosion on Nov. 7 that both warring factions in Sudan's current civil war blamed on each other.

The storage facilities at the refinery -- which has been offline since July -- were bombed and destroyed by Sudanese Armed Forces, Sudan's Rapid Support Forces said Nov. 7.

"This attack led to the destruction of key petroleum product storage facilities -- a reprehensible act that undermines the essential infrastructure so desperately needed by the Sudanese people," the Rapid Support Forces said on X, formerly Twitter.

In a separate statement, the Sudanese Armed Forces said a fuel tanker belonging to the RSF exploded and caused a fire while picking up fuel at the plant "without abiding by the safety measures".

The statements came a day after a UN envoy expressed concern that fighting in the region was drawing closer to South Sudan and the Abyei region where most oil activities are located.

Seized by the Rapid Support Forces in April, the Khartoum refinery was winding down operations in early July and fully halted processing at the end of July, according to consulting company CITAC Africa.

Fighting first broke out on April 15 in Khartoum and Port Sudan, home to the country's export terminals, due to a power struggle between rival generals Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, leader of the Sudanese Armed Forces. Tensions had been high since the ouster of former leader Omar al-Bashir in 2019.

Sudan, the second-smallest producer in OPEC+, pumps roughly 50,000 b/d of crude, well below South Sudan's 160,000 b/d, but Juba sends all its crude through a pipeline via Khartoum to Port Sudan.

Early fighting prompted speculation that oil infrastructure would come under fire as the RSF attempted to cut off a key source of revenue to Burhan's army.

Despite the war, oil export flows from Port Sudan have remained steady in recent months, averaging 150,000 b/d since May, according to tanker tracking data from S&P Global Commodities at Sea.(opens in a new tab)