The South Sudanese president has appointed a new petroleum minister, removing Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth, the presidential spokesman told Reuters on Wednesday, but the reasons for the move were unclear.

The ministry is one of the most powerful in the country.

South Sudan gets almost all of its revenues from oil and has been boosting production as it struggles to rebuild its shattered economy from the wreckage of a five-year civil war.

Gatkuoth has been replaced by Awow Daniel Chuang, the director general at the ministry, said President Salva Kiir’s spokesman, Ateny Wek Ateny.

Selected by SPTEC Advisory from Reuters