JUBA, Jan 7 (Reuters) – South Sudan aims to resume oil production at its Blocks 3 and 7 on Jan. 8 with an initial output target of 90,000 barrels per day, Petroleum Minister Puot Kang Chol said on Tuesday.

South Sudan’s economy has been under pressure in recent years amid communal violence while vital crude oil export revenue has been hurt by export disruptions due to war in Sudan.

Over the weekend, Sudan lifted a nearly year-long force majeure on the transport of crude oil from its neighbour South Sudan to a port on the Red Sea after security conditions improved.

“You all know it is going to be a gradual process, you will not get the required figure in one day, but our target is 90,000 barrels a day,” Chol told a news conference.

“This is what the pipeline will accommodate in the first phase and then there after if we have the capacity to increase more than that we shall do so.”

Chol also said the government has reached an agreement with Petronas to pay off its shares until it finds a new partner to replace the Malaysian producer, who announced in August it would exit the country after nearly three decades of operations.

Petronas said at the time its unit had initiated proceedings against South Sudan on accusations of blocking a $1.25 billion sale of its local assets and of taking over the business.

Chol said the arrangement would not affect Petronas’ partners; China National Petroleum Corporation, SINOPEC and Tri-Ocean Energy.

Prior to the war in Sudan, South Sudan had been pumping about 150,000 barrels per day of crude through Sudan for export, under a formula established when South Sudan gained independence from Khartoum in 2011.

(Reporting by Denis Elamu, writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Elisha Bala-Gbogbo and Jason Neely)