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Page added on October 7, 2013
War-torn Afghanistan issues oil and gas tender
Blighted by war, corruption and drug trafficking, Afghanistan is no ordinary terrain – even by the frontier standards of the global energy and mining industries.
But, with resource wealth estimated at $1 trillion (£620bn), the conflict-ravaged country has made the exploitation of its vast oil, gas and mineral reserves a centrepiece of any economic growth.
On Monday, Afghanistan made its latest assay at attracting international expertise to its fledgling oil and gas industry when the Ministry of Mines & Petroleum issued a tender for exploration and production across a 7,131 sq km block of the Amu-Darya basin.
The region is one of four areas in the north of the country that the US Geological Survey and its Afghan counterpart jointly assessed to have between them 1.6 billion barrels of crude oil, 16 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 500m barrels of natural gas liquids.
Most of the unexploited natural gas is located in the Amu Darya basin, while the crude is largely found in an area known as Afghan-Tajik.
That both areas have rich potential was clear to the Soviet Union as long ago as the 1950s – first as an investor and then as an occupying force between 1979 and 1989.
The Ministry’s tender, calling for expressions of interest by January 8, notes how “past Soviet efforts did result in the discovery of seven known gas fields, two of which are in the contract area – Juma and Bashikurd – totalling 28 billion cubic metres of reserves”.
But commercial exploitation is fraught with problems as state-owned China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) – and local partner Watan Energy – is finding with two blocks in the Amu Darya basin.
Work was halted last year after CNPC engineers came under attack by local militia, while in August this year drilling stopped again after a dispute over a transit contract with Uzbekistan to allow crude to be trucked to China.
Meanwhile, a trio awarded an exploration contract in November on six blocks in Afghan-Tajik – London-listed Dragon Oil, Kuwait Energy and Turkiye Petrolleri – are yet to sign.
Stephen Carter, the Afghanistan campaign leader at Global Witness – an organisation that investigates links between natural resources and conflict – said: “There is no major project that is really moving forward yet. I think it is going to be really hard to get any major investment to follow through. The risks are high, potential for conflict is high and the number of people you have to pay off is high.”
On Transparency International rankings, Afghanistan is joint-bottom at 174th, alongside Somalia and North Korea.
4 Comments on "War-torn Afghanistan issues oil and gas tender"
J-Gav on Mon, 7th Oct 2013 9:28 pm
This article would be hilarious if it wasn’t so tragic …
Arthur on Mon, 7th Oct 2013 10:14 pm
Parts if not all of Afghanistan will be ruled by the Taliban, once the last western troops withdraw.
BillT on Tue, 8th Oct 2013 1:33 am
Arthur, the ‘western’ troops are not going to withdraw. The appearance will be there but not the fact. The CIA needs that poppy product to flow, and the profits it produces that are used to keep the terrorist game going in other countries. Corporate America is not going to give up the territory that easily. But you can thank them for the constant ‘terrorist’ activity. The CIA has been good at it’s job of destroying democracy since 1940 when it was know as the O.S.S..
Luke on Tue, 8th Oct 2013 6:36 am
“US Geological Survay and its Afghanistan counterpart?” Presumably sponsored by Big Oil US and their hintsmen.
Strong anti Western rebels will keep them out of the area. Not for the benifit of the locals, but to chase greedy Western capitalist corps out.
(Nazi)SA has read this message and did approve it.