Sudan and South Sudan, situated in east Africa, became independent in July 2011 after a referendum in Southern Sudan. Sudan is located in the north-eastern part of Africa, and has access to the Red Sea. South Sudan is situated in equatorial Africa and has no access to the sea. In terms of its size, Sudan and South Sudan are 15^th and 41^st, respectively, ahead of many countries in the region. However, according to population density, both countries are at the bottom of the list – at 161^st and 164^th [1,2]. The total length of the country's coastline is 853 km [3,4]. According to 2020 statistics, the countries are home to around 46 million people [3,4].
The economy of both countries is based on oil exports. Prior to separation, Sudan was the second largest oil producer in Africa, outside OPEC. For the majority of the selected indices Sudan and South Sudan are either not represented or are at the bottom of the diagram (Fig. 1).

Although it lags far behind the global figures, Gross domestic product per capita in Sudan has been growing steadily over the last 30 years, and in 2017 amounted to $4300 [3,5]. This index in South Sudan made a sharp decline in 2012 and is now in the stage of growth, reaching $1 600 in 2017 [4,5]. The inflation rate in Sudan declined by more than 2 times compared to 2016 and totalled 17.8% in 2017 [3]. In comparison, inflation in Southern Sudan in 2017 reached 187.9% [4].
According to the Index of Economic Freedom, which is based on freedom of business, freedom from government intervention, property protection, and freedom from corruption, Sudan was 173^rd in 2018, out of 180 countries considered. In terms of reserves of foreign exchange and gold, Sudan and South Sudan are 143^rd and 170^th out of 176 countries.
In terms of GDP growth in percent over the past 10 years, in 2017 the countries were 92^nd and 199^th out of 200 countries. In terms of public debt, calculated as a percentage of the country's GDP, Sudan and South Sudan were ranked 194^th and 148^th, respectively, out of 202 countries considered in 2017.

The main oil fields in Sudan and South Sudan are situated in Muglat basins (blocks 1, 2 and 4, block 5A, block 6 and block 17) and Melut (blocks 3 and 7) on the border between the countries (Figure 5). Blocks 2, 4, 6 and 17 belong to Sudan, while the field units 1, 5A, 7, 3 belong to Southern Sudan. Up until 2011, oil exploration was carried out mainly in the central region, due to civil unrest [12].

Petroleum industry in Sudan is represented by five plants in the central and northern parts of the country. The largest oil refineries are Khartoum and al-Jaili, located north of the capital, with an installed capacity of 100 thousand bbl/day (Figure 5) [13]. The modernization project of the oil refining industry involves the expansion of two plants Khartoum and Port Sudan (Figure 7). At this point there are no oil refineries on the territory of South Sudan, but the state plans to construct two plants in the vicinity of the fields (Figure 7) [12]. However, their construction is also complicated by the ongoing armed conflict between the two countries.
Two export pipelines, stretching from the south to the north of Sudan link the fields of both countries with the marine terminal, Bashayer, located about 15 miles south of Port Sudan. The Petrodar pipeline, with a capacity of 500 thousand bbl/day, transports oil from blocks 3 and 7. The GNPOC pipeline, with a capacity of 450 thousand bbl/day, transports oil from blocks 2 and 4 of Sudan 1 and 5 blocks of Southern Sudan [12]. South Sudan is considering the construction of an export crude oil pipeline which will bypass the current route through Sudan. Construction plans were discussed with the authorities in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Djibouti. Thus, it is possible to build a pipeline to a Kenyan port of Lamu or to the port of Djibouti through Ethiopia. South Sudan signed a Memorandum of Understanding with all governments [12]. The Toyota Tsusho Corporation has made a feasibility study for the construction of the pipeline to the port of Lamu and has expressed willingness to finance the construction, but the project has been frozen because of the civil unrest (Figure 7). [1]
There are 6 large oil power plants with a capacity of over 100 MW in Sudan, which are mainly concentrated in the northern and central parts of the country (Figure 6).

As mentioned earlier, the basis of Sudan’s electricity generation is hydropower, which is represented by two major stations, Roseires Dam and Merowe Dam. Installed capacity of Roseires Dam is 1 800 MW, Merowe Dam is noticeably smaller – 1 250 MW [14,15]. There is also a project to construct five large hydroelectric power stations on the territory of Sudan, the largest of which is the Upper Atbara and Setit Dam Complex, with an installed capacity of 320 MW [16,17], and four large hydroelectric power stations on the territory of Southern Sudan, including Fula Dam (Figure 7) [18]. Sudan operates several plants for the production of biomass and two plants for bioethanol production. Bioenergy makes up 1.2% of the electricity generation of renewable energy in Sudan (Figure 6).

The North South Transmission Line Project involves the construction of high-voltage transmission lines, with capacity from 3 000 to 17 000 MW from Egypt through Sudan, South Sudan and other African countries [19]. However, because of the loss of oil revenues after the separation of South Sudan, the funding of some projects remains questionable. The operator of the majority of power plants and the largest supplier of electricity in Sudan is the National Electricity Corporation. The company also plans to build a coal-fired power plant in Port Sudan with a capacity of 600 MW, and in El Bagair a combined cycle power plant with a capacity of 300 MW [20].
As mentioned earlier, the level of global horizontal solar radiation can reach over 6.8 kWh/m2 per day, and the level of wind speed – more than 8 m/sec, which is a good resource for the production of energy [7,8]. However, as already mentioned, this resource has not been actively capitalized. In Figure 7 you can see renewable energy projects among which are several solar stations and a wind farm. The largest solar power plant is the Atbara PV Solar Plant Project, with an installed capacity of 50 MW [21].