WASHINGTON (CN) - The Department of the Treasury is authorizing U.S. based companies and individuals to engage with the petroleum and petrochemical industries in the newly constituted Republic of South Sudan.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued two general licenses authorizing all activities and transactions, including financing, shipping of goods, technology transfers and services in support of the industries.
Prior to the formation of the break-away republic in July, the Sudanese Sanctions Regulations and the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act severely restricted U.S. trade with Sudan's petroleum and petrochemical industries in retaliation for Sudan's sponsorship of international terrorism and its support of militias in the Dafur region.
In November, President Barack Obama extended the sanctions against Sudan and the freeze on assets of the Sudanese government, and certain officials, held in the U.S.
The agency said authorizing U.S. trade with South Sudan will help shore-up the fledgling nation's finances and support its independence. The oil infrastructure of the two Sudans is interconnected and they are still arguing over the future of the richest oil producing state, South Kordofan, which is on the uneasy border of the two nations.
As a result, U.S. companies will not be allowed to send money, goods or services through Sudan to South Sudan and no transactions that require the consent of the government of Sudan will be allowed.
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