South Sudan has agreed to provide two oil cargoes it owes to BB Energy under a US$100mn deal that went awry last year, the oil trading company has said, as a London court extended an injunction in its favour.
“BB Energy is now in receipt of irrevocable letters of award from the Government of South Sudan, confirming that BB Energy will lift two further cargoes before the end of November 2026,” the company said in a statement to GTR.
BB Energy has taken legal action, alongside direct talks with government officials, in its effort to get South Sudan to honour a February 2025 deal in which the country agreed to provide the trader with five cargoes of crude oil throughout the year in exchange for a US$100mn pre-payment.
The London-headquartered firm alleges South Sudan only delivered one cargo, in February this year.
The receipt of the award letters came ahead of a June 17 ruling by London’s High Court that upheld an injunction barring South Sudan from entering into new pre-payment deals for oil exports or pledging future oil cargoes to secure financing.
The court first put the injunction in place on May 15, stating that South Sudan “must not accept any new pre-payments or enter into any arrangement that has the effect of being a pre-payment, from any third party in relation to any cargo of Dar Blend or Nile Blend crude oil” before a further hearing on June 5.
At that hearing, a group of traders – BGN, EuroAmerican and Chiangwei – sought variations to the injunction in a bid to secure cargoes they have already made pre-payments for. South Sudan and Cathay Petroleum, which purchased oil from some of the traders, also objected to the injunction.
On June 17, Justice Mark Pelling said he was upholding the order because BB Energy was entitled to seek an injunction to enforce the contract, unless there were “strong reasons” not to.
This could include “an unwarranted interference” with the business of an “innocent third party”.
Justice Pelling said that because BB Energy’s solicitors had written to each trading firm on December 21, 2025 and put them “on notice” of the trader’s intention to apply for an injunction, they did not qualify as innocent third parties.
Referring to BGN, the judge said the trader had chosen to proceed with its “eyes wide open” to the risk it was taking in agreeing a pre-payment deal with South Sudan.
The traders were also under no obligation to make further pre-payments to South Sudan, he added.
Instead, the traders were free to buy oil from South Sudan using other methods, such as letters of credit or “alternative, and perhaps more conventional, arrangements for the international sale of goods”, Justice Pelling said.
A two-day hearing to discuss whether the injunction should be upheld “as a matter of law” is expected in early July.
BB Energy said in the statement that it welcomed the court’s decision and looks forward “to continuing positive commercial discussions [with South Sudan] regarding further deliveries”.
BGN, EuroAmerican, Chiangwei and Cathay Petroleum did not respond to requests for comment on the decision.
Last month, BB Energy lost its bid to stop the sale of three cargoes of South Sundanese oil worth around US$180mn to BGN and A&M International. The trader sought permission to appeal this decision, but was denied it in an order dated June 3.
BGN, EuroAmerican, Cathay Petroleum and Chiangwei had argued this order undermined the basis of the May 15 injunction and that it should be discharged as well.
Oil exports are South Sudan’s primary source of revenue. In recent years, the country has largely failed to deliver oil to creditors such as QNB, the African Export-Import Bank and UAE trader Nasdec General Trading, which collectively lent the government more than US$2bn under pre-payment arrangements.
South Sudan is one of the world’s most impoverished nations and in recent months has been grappling with worsening violence between the government and opposition forces in Jonglei state, where the UN says 280,000 people have been displaced.
