The state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. has been awarded a contract to develop a Sudanese offshore oil block with Indonesia's PT Pertamina.

The accord, which includes exploration and development, was signed on June 28 in Khartoum, Middle East Newsline reported.

The contract was disclosed amid an international effort to block foreign companies from developing Sudan's oil sector.

Western governments have asserted that Sudan was using oil revenues to finance the war in Darfour.

Since Sudan’s government started the ethnic cleansing of its own people in 2003, at least 200,000 have died and more than two million have become displaced. Despite multiple campaigns of concern by the international community, the Islamic rulers in Khartoum have effectively blocked serious UN peacekeeping efforts to stem the violence.