The South Sudan authorities are promoting the countryâs open blocks which are available to companies for direct negotiations. Petroleum agreements are of the production sharing type and are entered into by the Ministry. The Council of Ministers (the cabinet of the government of South Sudan) has the power to open or close areas for petroleum activities. Petroleum agreements are negotiated and signed by the Ministry of Petroleum and Mining. Within the ministry, there is a General Director Petroleum and under him, four directorates. The Directorate of Upstream is the most important for licensing purposes. An Exploration and Production Sharing Agreement, gives the contractor an exclusive right to explore for petroleum in the contract area. In addition, an Exploration Drilling Permit is required before drilling starts. The exploration phase of an EPSA has a duration of up to six years, comprising a first commitment period and two optional commitment periods to be specified in the Agreement.  Â   For more information contact to:  Eng. Mohamed Lino Benjamin, Undersecretary, Ministry of Petroleum  Tel: +211 956 666 935 / +211 912 366 661  Email:Â Â mbenjamin@mopam.goss.org    Â   Mr.Steven Puoch Riek Deng, Executive Director, Office of the Minister, Ministry of Petroleum  Tel: +211 950 800 039 / +211 922 555 344  Email:Â guancajen@gmail.com    Â   The available blocks as of September 2018 are understood to be as listed below.  There are 12 available blocks.  Total open acreage amounts to 209,835 sq km, all onshore.  Â           Open blocks         Â          Â          Â              Block Name         Area (sq km)         Situation         Block Basin             Block A2         18,374         onshore         Melut Basin             Block A3         11,409         onshore         Muglad Basin             Block A4         2,993         onshore         Muglad Basin             Block B1         43,626         onshore         Melut Basin             Block B2         47,742         onshore         Muglad Basin             Block E2         22,331         onshore         Muglad Basin             Block S7         5,522         onshore         Melut Basin             Block A5         4,206         onshore         Muglad Basin             Block A6         4,007         onshore         Muglad Basin             Block A1         23,251         onshore         Melut Basin             Block DC         4,932         onshore         Melut Basin             Block E1         21,442         onshore         Central African Shield
South Sudan, not found