CHINESE and Arab oil firms have formed a joint venture to search for petroleum in southeast Sudan, a newspaper reported this week. The Chinese National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), Gulf Oil of Qatar, and a United Arab Emirates firm formed a consortium with Sudan’s state-run Sudapet in a deal signed at the weekend, the As-Sahafi Ad-Dawli daily said. The consortium will carry out oil operations in a concession area of 75 square kilometres east of the White Nile in the eastern parts of Upper Nile state, it said. Sudan has an estimated three billion barrels of reserves, but 700m barrels of proven, recoverable reserves. – AFP