A contract to collect oil from the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which is governed by the Taliban, was signed on Thursday by a subsidiary of a Chinese state-run energy company.
According to a statement issued by the Taliban government, Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas, a subsidiary of the state-run Chinese National Petroleum Corporation, will invest up to $150 million yearly, which will rise to $540 million in three years, to pump oil in the Amu River Oil Basin.
The contract, which is the first foreign energy agreement signed by the Taliban government, was signed in the presence of Wang Yu, the Chinese ambassador to Afghanistan, and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban’s deputy prime minister for economic affairs.
Oil production will start at 1,000 tons per day and increase to 20,000 tons over time, according to Omid Khurram, a spokesman for the nation’s ministry of mines and petroleum, who spoke to Bloomberg. The Taliban administration would also earn a 15% royalty charge. 3,000 Afghans will have direct employment opportunities thanks to the oil project, which is situated in a basin with more than 80 million barrels of crude oil reserves.
Nothing to see her, just two of our biggest enemies getting even closer https://t.co/vxQrl0n9at
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) January 9, 2023
According to the Taliban’s Ministry for Economic Affairs, China has maintained tight economic relations and would profit from a freshly constructed trade channel between the two republics, despite the fact that no nation has formally recognized the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. To prevent supply shortages, China is working to strengthen its domestic power production and energy supply lines.
After the Taliban forbade Afghan women from attending university, the Islamic fundamentalist group was denounced by the UN in December. Till the Taliban government changes its position on women’s education, numerous other nations, including the US, have held off on recognizing it formally.
