Plans to transform the east African oil sector by building a pipeline from south Sudan to the Kenyan coast were boosted yesterday when a Japanese company expressed interest in joining the project. The project would be the boldest yet by a Japanese company in Africa. China has also been studying the proposed pipeline and Toyota Thrush said that co-operation with Beijing was possible. At present, the oil is exported via pipelines leading through northern Sudan to an export facility on the Red Sea. The government of the semi-autonomous south wants the new pipeline to reduce its dependence on the north and to create an export route via Kenya.
China National Petroleum Corporation, a state-owned company, has the largest foreign stake in Sudan's oil industry and Beijing received 79 per cent of Sudan's petroleum exports in the same period. Japanese diplomats acknowledge that, in common with China, securing oil and other natural resources in Africa is one of their main objectives.
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