White Nile set to strike it rich in Sudan

WHITE NILE, the soaraway oil stock set up by former England cricketer Phil Edmonds, could be sitting on as many as five billion barrels of crude in southern Sudan.

A source close to the company said the potential of the exploration block central to a joint venture between White Nile and the South Sudanese authorities was huge.

If proven, White Nile would put last year's success story Cairn Energy into the shadows.

White Nile has revived memories of the dotcom boom since listing earlier this month on the Alternative Investment Market (Aim) at just 10p a share with £9mof cash in the bank.

The shares soared to 138½p before the company asked for them to be suspended pending details of the structure of its deal with the South Sudanese ruling party, set up following last month's peace accord in the country.

The authority founded its own national company, Nile Petroleum, last August. White Nile said last week that it had won a 60% interest in the 67,000 square kilometre Block BA.

In the mid-1980s, French oil giant Total claimed there could be as many as three billion barrels of oil in the region. It pulled out of the country because of the escalating civil war.