Even smaller US companies are revisiting the province before an expected lifting of sanctions, while several intrepid minnows have expressed interest in acreage.

Dundee University trained oil lawyer John Luk Jok, currently Minister for Youth&Sports but instrumental in devising the new anticipated petroleum code, believes at least 12 billion barrels of upside oil potential lies beneath the Muglad, Melut and Blue Nile rift formations in South Sudan.

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