Taliban-led Afghanistan begins extracting oil

Acting petroleum minister inaugurates oil well in northern Sar-e-Pul province

Afghanistan's Taliban-led government started extracting oil from wells in the north of the country, state-run media said Saturday.

"Priority will be given to the employment of technical and non-technical staff and the reconstruction of the mine using the revenues of Sar-e-Pul," acting Mines and Petroleum Minister Sheikh Shahabuddin Delawar was quoted by the Bakhtar News Agency.

Delawar was addressing a ceremony where he and several senior Taliban officials were inaugurating the wells in the Qashqari oilfield in Sar-e-Pul province

The Qashqari basin has 10 wells and 200 tonnes of oil is being extracted from nine, the Kabul Times reported, citing a statement by the Mines and Petroleum Ministry.

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Officials hope to increase the extraction capacity from Qashqari to more than 1,000 tons.

Following a return to power in Kabul in 2021, the Taliban signed an agreement last year with a Chinese company to extract oil from Sar-e-Pul.

In January, the interim Afghan Taliban government also signed a 25-year contract with a Chinese firm to extract oil from the Amu River basin and develop an oil reserve in the north.

According to the contract, the Chinese company will invest $150 million in the first year and increase to $540 million in three years.

Afghanistan is estimated to be sitting on untapped resources of more than $1 trillion, which has attracted the interest of foreign investors, according to the Bakhtar News Agency.