Afghanistan Investment Support Agency (AISA) Chief Wafiullah Iftikhar has announced that an Afghan-American firm will invest $700m to establish an oil refinery in the country along with oil exploration projects. "The investment will provide direct employment opportunities for 14,000 people and indirectly will provide working opportunities for 20,000 people," he told reporters.
Under the contract agreed with the Afghan Government, the joint venture will construct a 60,000 bpd refinery, and begin its work at the end of 2015. Vast deposits of untapped mineral wealth worth billions of dollars have been identified in Afghanistan during the past few years. The country's government is negotiating a series of contracts with companies to develop these resources. These include a 25-year agreement with China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), signed last December, which covers drilling and the establishment of a refinery in the northern provinces of Faryab and Sar-e-Pul.