The government of Afghanistan, which was captured by the Taliban a year ago, is to sign a contract with a Chinese company to extract oil from the Amu Darya basin.
This is reported by Reuters.
The contract will be signed with Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas Co (CAPEIC). This will be the first major deal for the extraction of state resources that the Taliban leadership has signed with a foreign company.
"The Amu Darya oil contract is an important project between China and Afghanistan," Chinese Ambassador Wang Yu said at a press conference.
According to the 25-year contract, the Chinese company will invest $150 million a year in Afghanistan, said the official representative of the Taliban administration, Zabihullah Mujahid. Investments will increase to $540 million in three years.
Back in 2012, the Chinese state-owned company National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) signed a contract with the previous, legitimate government of Afghanistan for oil production in the Amu Darya basin. At that time, there were up to 87 million barrels of crude oil in Amu Darya.