Date set for return of reshaped White Nile

Shares in the oil explorer White Nile will resume trading on Monday after it published details of an agreement that will see the rebel government of South Sudan take a 50 per cent stake.

Shares in the oil explorer White Nile will resume trading on Monday after it published details of an agreement that will see the rebel government of South Sudan take a 50 per cent stake.

The company, run by the former England cricketer Phil Edmonds, will issue 155 million shares to Nile Petroleum, owned by the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, for a 50 per cent holding. In return, the SPLM has granted White Nile a 60 per cent interest in Block Ba, Muglad Basin.

The rebel movement, which has signed a peace deal with the Khartoum government, has the option of taking a further 20 per cent of the AIM-listed White Nile, if it puts the remaining 40 per cent of the oil concession into the company.

Mr Edmonds said: "The model ... was designed to enable the government of Southern Sudan to benefit from the extensive capital markets in London and elsewhere to raise funds to enable development of Southern Sudanese oilfields while retaining long-term control and influence over them."

White Nile also published a report which stated that Block Ba mayhave potential oil-in-place figures of 5 billion barrels.