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The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) announced Monday that they had seized control of the Heglig oil field, declaring that their forces were “securing and protecting the vital oil installations in the area to ensure the interests of the Republic of South Sudan,” which relies heavily on Sudan’s pipelines to move its crude to global markets.
The Heglig oil field is considered one of the most damaging blows to Sudan’s economy since the war began.
The field, Sudan’s largest and the main processing hub for South Sudan’s crude, was shut down after RSF forces took control.
An engineer at the site confirmed that production had been halted and workers evacuated, while the army withdrew “to protect the facilities and prevent damage.”
The RSF described the capture of the Heglig oil region as “a pivotal point in the liberation of the entire homeland,” citing the field’s economic importance.
Former energy minister Jadain Ali Hassan told Al Jazeera that the shutdown means Sudan loses all its remaining oil production, estimated at 30,000 to 40,000 barrels per day, as well as revenues from processing and transporting 50,000 barrels of South Sudan’s crude.
What remains are limited transit fees, which are insufficient to replace the lost income. This loss deepens an already severe economic crisis and threatens one of Sudan’s last functioning state revenue streams.
Brigadier General Jamal Al-Shahid, a strategic expert and former commander involved in retaking Heglig in 2012, warned that the RSF takeover represents “a shift in the rules of the game.”
By capturing Heglig, the RSF has taken control of a critical economic artery and placed direct pressure on Sudan’s national wealth.
He emphasized the military, political, and economic weight of the site, noting the risks that any change in its security status could unleash.
The RSF advances into Kordofan following its takeover of Darfur in late October. The region has witnessed escalating violence, including a drone strike last week that killed 114 people, 63 of them children, according to the World Health Organization.
Humanitarian agencies warn that the conflict is expanding into densely populated and economically vital areas.
Heglig’s fall compounds the deeper collapse of Sudan’s oil infrastructure. The RSF already controls key western oil fields operated by China since the 1990s, before being forced shut early in the war.
Last month, the China National Petroleum Corporation informed Sudan it would end its investments.
Former oil minister Gadein Ali Obeid described the situation as a “disaster,” noting that Sudan has now effectively lost both major producing regions, Heglig and Block 6.
Even oil from Block 6 was processed at Heglig, which previously handled 80,000 to 100,000 barrels per day for Sudan and South Sudan.
With Sudan now divided, with army-held areas in the north, east, and center and RSF-controlled territories across the west and much of the south, the takeover of Heglig accelerates economic collapse, weakens state institutions, and pushes the conflict into a more volatile and destabilizing phase.
Since April 2023, Sudan’s war between the army and the RSF has killed tens of thousands, displaced 12 million people, and ravaged infrastructure.
The RSF’s advance in Kordofan has been bolstered by an alliance with Abdelaziz al-Hilu’s SPLM-N faction, which controls much of South Kordofan and parts of Blue Nile state.
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