Sudan's oil output was due to rise to half a million barrels per day (bpd) after a pipeline was opened pumping crude from the southern Upper Nile region to the Red Sea, an oil official said.

The almost 900-mile-long (1,460-kilometre) pipeline - inaugurated Monday - will allow oil wells to start operating in the southern Melut Basin from which the crude will be pumped to Al-Salam port on the Red Sea, the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Sudan's production stood at more than 300,000 bpd and is now expected to rise above the 500,000 bpd mark, making Africa's largest country one of the continent's oil top heavyweights behind Libya, Nigeria and Angola.

The launch ceremony for the pipeline - initially due to have taken place last summer - was held in the town of Fulouj and attended by Energy and Mining Minister Awad al-Jaz as well as several southern Sudanese officials.

Peace agreement

Sudan's north and south signed a peace agreement in January 2005, ending 21 years of war fueled by resentment over the northern Khartoum-based government's exploitation of oil resources, which are mainly in the south.

A wealth-sharing agreement was among the hardest to reach during the negotiations for the comprehensive peace deal and sharp differences remain between Khartoum and the semi-autonomous southern government.

The new pipeline is run by the Petrodar conglomerate, three quarters of whose shares are owned by the two oil giants operating in Sudan: Malaysia's Petronas and China's CNPC.