South Sudan Oil Output Tops 100,000 BPD as VP Atak Santino Briefs President Kiir on DPOC Gains

Juba, South Sudan — South Sudan’s oil production has surpassed 100,000 barrels per day, a major milestone for an economy heavily dependent on petroleum revenues, as a high-level delegation from Dar Petroleum Operating Company and the national oil establishment briefed President Salva Kiir Mayardit on production gains and efforts to sustain further growth.

At the centre of the briefing was Atak Santino Majak, Vice President of Dar Petroleum Operating Company (DPOC), who was joined by NILEPET Managing Director Emmanuel Athiei Ayual and members of DPOC’s senior management. The composition of the delegation underscored the importance attached to the production drive and the coordination between DPOC, the national oil company and the country’s highest political leadership.

The meeting focused on the sharp improvement in output, progress toward production targets and the steps required to maintain momentum in a sector that remains the backbone of South Sudan’s economy. For Majak, who has placed higher production, operational efficiency, local content and national capacity at the centre of his leadership agenda, the briefing offered an opportunity to present progress directly to President Kiir.

According to the Office of the President, production has risen from about 70,000 barrels per day to more than 100,000 barrels per day. That increase carries consequences far beyond the oil fields in a country where petroleum revenues remain central to public finances, export earnings and access to foreign exchange.

President Kiir welcomed the progress and urged DPOC’s leadership to continue increasing production while ensuring that gains in the petroleum sector contribute to national development. His message placed the latest figures within a wider priority for the government: restoring output, strengthening revenues and using the country’s natural resources to support economic recovery.

The presence of NILEPET Managing Director Emmanuel Athiei Ayual alongside Majak and DPOC’s senior leadership gave the meeting added institutional weight. It reflected a coordinated push across the petroleum sector to consolidate recent gains, improve performance and ensure that rising output delivers greater value for the country.

Since taking up his senior leadership role at DPOC, Majak has made production growth a defining priority, pursuing a strategy built around operational discipline, sustained management attention and a close focus on performance targets. The gains presented to President Kiir now provide a concrete measure of that drive at a time when South Sudan urgently needs stronger revenues and renewed confidence in its most important industry.

DPOC is one of South Sudan’s largest oil exploration and production consortia, operating the resource-rich Blocks 3 and 7 in the Melut Basin. Its place in the national economy means that changes in production are felt well beyond company balance sheets, with implications for government revenue, foreign exchange availability and broader economic stability.

That is what makes the rise above 100,000 barrels per day particularly significant. South Sudan has endured years of conflict, production disruptions, infrastructure challenges and wider economic pressure. A sustained recovery in output could provide breathing room for public finances and improve the government’s capacity to meet obligations, support essential services and invest in infrastructure.

For Majak, however, the production push forms part of a wider argument about the future of South Sudan’s petroleum industry. His priorities include improving operational efficiency, strengthening the capacity of South Sudanese workers, advancing local content, expanding opportunities for domestic companies and ensuring that communities in oil-producing areas see tangible benefits from the resources extracted around them.

The approach puts national participation alongside higher output. South Sudan’s petroleum sector has long faced questions over skills transfer, employment, procurement opportunities and the space available to local companies in an industry that generates most of the country’s strategic revenue.

Majak’s leadership agenda seeks to bring those issues into the same conversation as production. The premise is that higher output and stronger South Sudanese participation should reinforce each other if the oil industry is to become a durable engine of recovery rather than remain primarily a source of crude exports.

A seasoned public service and business executive, Majak brings experience from senior positions across government and the petroleum services sector. He previously served as Executive Director to the Minister of Presidential Affairs and as Manager for Logistics and Procurement at Nile Logistic Company, one of NILEPET’s subsidiaries.

He also held management responsibilities in human resources, administration, finance and procurement at Sipet Engineering and Consultancy Services. His public service career included high-level positions as Private Secretary and Personal Assistant to President Kiir, as well as Undersecretary in the Ministry of Defense and Veteran Affairs.

That mix of experience in the presidency, public administration and business has shaped a leadership profile now operating in South Sudan’s most strategically important industry. At DPOC, the immediate benchmark is production, but the larger test is whether those gains can be sustained and translated into wider national value.

The timing is critical. South Sudan’s economy remains acutely exposed to changes in petroleum output and export flows. When production declines or export infrastructure is disrupted, the impact quickly spreads through government finances, foreign exchange markets, public salaries, infrastructure spending and the wider cost of doing business.

The latest milestone therefore carries national implications. A rise from roughly 70,000 barrels per day to above 100,000 barrels per day represents a substantial improvement and could strengthen the country’s recovery prospects if output is maintained.

It also raises expectations. Increasing production is one challenge; sustaining it through reliable operations, investment, sound management and infrastructure resilience is another. The briefing with President Kiir made clear that the government expects the momentum to continue.

Beyond production, DPOC has sought to position itself as a development partner in host communities. The company has supported Melut County Hospital with medicines, beds, bed sheets, blankets, uniforms and other essential supplies, linking petroleum operations to practical needs in areas closest to production activity.

DPOC has also committed to expanding the Melut Water Treatment Plant from partial to full operational capacity, with the goal of widening access to clean water. Such interventions matter in a country where communities around major resource projects increasingly expect visible benefits from industries operating on their land.

For Majak, community development is part of the broader case for a stronger oil sector. Higher production may improve national revenues, but public confidence will also depend on whether workers, domestic companies and host communities can see tangible gains from the industry.

This is where local content assumes particular importance. Building the capacity of South Sudanese workers, expanding skills transfer and creating more room for domestic companies could allow a greater share of petroleum activity to circulate through the national economy.

A stronger local content framework could also help reduce long-term dependence on external expertise in areas where South Sudanese professionals and companies can progressively assume larger roles. For a young country seeking to build its own industrial capacity, that question is inseparable from the future of the petroleum sector.

The meeting with President Kiir brought these different strands together: production, economic recovery, national capacity and development. With NILEPET Managing Director Emmanuel Athiei Ayual and DPOC senior management joining Majak, the delegation reflected the institutional importance behind efforts to sustain output and improve sector performance.

President Kiir’s response was one of encouragement, but also expectation. He urged the leadership to keep increasing production and promote development, linking operational performance directly to the country’s wider economic needs.

For Majak, the moment marks an important test of leadership. The production figures give DPOC a tangible result to point to, but they also raise the bar. Sustaining output above 100,000 barrels per day, pushing for further gains, improving efficiency and deepening South Sudanese participation will determine whether the current momentum develops into a durable recovery.

The stakes are considerable. Oil remains central to the country’s ability to earn foreign exchange, finance government operations and support public investment. Stronger production can ease fiscal pressure and improve confidence, but only if operational gains prove resilient and revenues are translated into broader economic value.

That is what gives the latest meeting its importance. It was more than a routine management update. The briefing centred on the performance of the industry on which much of South Sudan’s economy still depends, held as production crossed a psychologically and economically important threshold.

Atak Santino Majak’s role in that effort is increasingly coming into focus. Since assuming the vice presidency at DPOC, he has identified increased production as a central priority while linking it to operational efficiency, local content, national capacity and community development.

The latest figures provide a measure of that production drive. They also sharpen the challenge ahead.

For South Sudan, crossing 100,000 barrels per day is a welcome milestone, particularly after years in which disruptions to the oil industry repeatedly exposed the fragility of the wider economy. Sustaining that momentum could help strengthen public finances, improve foreign exchange inflows and restore confidence in a sector whose fortunes remain closely tied to the country’s recovery.

Yet production numbers alone will not settle the larger questions facing the industry. The deeper test will be whether increased output can support jobs, strengthen domestic companies, build South Sudanese expertise, improve services and deliver visible development in host communities.

The delegation’s briefing to President Kiir therefore captured a moment of progress, but also one of heightened responsibility. DPOC has crossed an important production threshold, and the country’s leadership now wants the momentum sustained.

Under Majak’s leadership at DPOC, the immediate objective remains higher and more efficient production. The larger ambition is more consequential: to help position South Sudan’s petroleum sector as a stronger driver of national recovery, local capacity, investment and development.