Greek firm to explore for oil in Afghanistan

The ruling Afghan Taliban militia have signed a deal with a Greek firm, ECC, regarding survey and exploration of oil in Afghanistan. Taliban official for mines and industries Maulvi Ahmed Jan signed the agreement in the Afghan capital of Kabul with the Greek firm, a report from Kabul said.
The firm will first conduct a survey for oil exploration in the south-western part of Afghanistan which is believed to be rich in oil and gas. Several other companies had also conducted such surveys earlier, said the report. Ahmed Jan said the Taliban authorities had been trying to attract investors to the oil and gas sectors of Afghanistan for three years since they occupied the capital.
Efforts are also underway for the installation of a refinery in Kabul but most of the foreign firms preferred exploration and extraction of oil before installation of refineries, he said. He said that sufficient work had been done in connection with the exploration in northern Afghanistan, particularly around Sar-e-Pul province.
"At present we are capable of extracting 10,000 bpd. Most of the oil wells in northern Afghanistan which had been damaged, have been reconstructed," Ahmed Jan was quoted as saying. On the proposed gas pipeline project, the Taliban official said the project mainly belonged to Pakistan and Turkmenistan while Afghanistan only provides the transit route.