India smells oil in Afghanistan

India’s Ambassador to Afghanistan, Rakesh Sood, has alerted the government on the opportunities available in the strife-torn neighbouring country. With India yet to come to terms with the Iran-India gas pipeline, an alternative Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline project appears to be more feasible.

In a communique to senior external affairs and petroleum officials, Sood has said that the
US Geological Survey has undertaken an assessment on the undiscovered petroleum resources of northern Afgha-nistan on behalf of the Afghan Ministry of Mines. Apparently, Sood reports, the known crude oil and natural gas reserves are in northern Afghanistan in two geological basins — the Amu Daria basin and the Afghan-Tajik basin. The volumes assessed are approximately 1.6 million barrels of crude oil and 15.6 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

Hindustan Times