LONDON, April 19 (Reuters) - Drilling for oil has begun in Sudan's troubled Darfur region after preliminary studies showed there were abundant quantities of oil, a spokesman for the country's Energy Ministry said.

Sudan's main oilfields are in the south and disputes over oil drew out negotiations to end 20 years of civil war.

"The drilling was undertaken on the basis of the geological studies and surveys which proved the presence of oil in abundant quantities in Darfur," Mohamed Siddig, a spokesman for Sudan's Ministry of Energy and Mining, told Reuters by phone from Sudan.

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