Sudan oil row escalates

South Sudan has begun shutting down oil production, accusing Sudan of seizing US$815 million worth of crude, escalating an increasingly bitter row over oil revenues between the former civil war foes.

South Sudan seceded last July under a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war between north and south, but the two have remained locked in a dispute over how to untangle their oil industries.

The new landlocked nation needs to use the port of Port Sudan to export its crude, but has failed to reach an agreement.