China bags Afghanistan's first oil exploration contract

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Brunei News.Net
Tuesday 27th December, 2011

KABUL -Afghanistan has granted permission to China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) to develop oil blocks in the Amu Darya Basin, estimated to hold about 87 million barrels of oil.

"The Afghan cabinet has ordered Mines Minister Wahidullah Shahrani to sign an oil exploration contract for Amu Darya with China National Petroleum Corporation," Afghanistan president's office said in a statement Monday after cabinet approval.

For energy hungry China, which is engaged in oil and gas exploration in many countries, the deal will clinch yet another source of supplies.

Though resource-rich, Afghanistan remains a largely unexplored territory owing to its continuing political instability, violence and lack of infrastructure.

The Watan Group a local company will be state-owned CNPC's partner in the exploration block.
The state-owned Chinese oil giant will develop three oil fields located in the Amu river zone in Sar-e Pol and Faryab provinces in northern Afghanistan.

"This is the first big contract for exploration and extraction of oil in Afghanistan," the official statement said. "There are 87 million barrels of oil in the area."

So far six oil deposits have been discovered in Afghanistan including in Herat in the west, Helmand in the south and Paktia in the southeast.

With several countries looking to undertake infrastructure development in Afghanistan, analysts are sure China will also follow suit to participate in the rebuilding activities as it has been doing in many of the African nations where it is engaged in exploration activities.

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Source: http://www.bruneinews.net/story/202162922

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