By Andrew Green

JUBA, April 7 (Reuters) - South Sudan expects initial oil output of between 150,000 and 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) after resuming production on Saturday, an oil official said on Sunday.

After months of negotiations, both African countries agreed earlier this month to resume cross-border oil flows after bilateral tensions eased.

 

Landlocked South Sudan, which shut down its entire output of 350,000 bpd in a row with Khartoum over oil fees last year, needs to export its oil through Sudanese pipelines and the key port of Port Sudan.

"We will reach an initial output of 150,000 to 200,000 (bpd) by April 15," Gatwech Thich, pipeline director at the oil ministry, told Reuters in Juba.

The ministry restarted production at the Thar Jath field in Unity state on Saturday, he said, adding that fields in Upper Nile state, which are among the biggest in the African country, would go online in the next days.

"Yesterday, what we did is to start the (Sudd Petroleum Operating Company) operation areas (in Unity state), which is a small portion of overall production," he said.

Sudd Petroleum is a 50-50 joint-venture between Malaysian state oil firm Petronas and South Sudan's state-owned Nilepet.

The first cargo from South Sudan should reach Port Sudan at the end of May, Sudan's state news agency SUNA said on Saturday, about two weeks later than initially expected.

Both countries, which came close to returning to war a year ago in a conflict over oil transit fees and disputed territory, depend heavily on crude exports for state revenues and use the foreign currency to import food and fuel.

South Sudan seceded from Sudan in 2011 under a 2005 peace deal which ended one of Africa's longest civil wars. However, both countries remain at loggerheads over control of disputed territories and other issues.