Sudan: Sudan at the head of a global sweep to mop up world's oil resources

A tangle of pipes and metallic towers rises over the shimmering, rock-strewn desert north of the Sudanese capital Khartoum. The gleaming oil refinery is the jewel of Sudan's oil boom, the mid-point of a 900-mile pipeline from the southern oilfields to the Red Sea that is projected to pump 500,000 barrels a day by the end of this year. But if the oil is African, the money and management are Chinese. Where western companies shy away because of corruption, conflict or the risk of losing their shirt, Chinese firms are plunging in, says this article from the The Guardian UK.