Afghanistan calls first oil and gas bidding round

LONDON, April 3 - Afghanistan, mired in its eighth year of conflict, has announced that it will launch its first ever bidding round for oil and gas exploration and production in a tender document obtained by Reuters.

Two gas blocks and one oil block to be auctioned are located in an area where most oil and gas fields were discovered in the 1970s and a modest amount of oil and gas had been produced, the statement said.

The two gas blocks (Jangalikalan and Juma-Bashikurd) altogether hold recoverable reserves of 52 billion cubic meters of gas. The Kashkari oil block has a recoverable reserve of 64.4 million barrel, the statement said.

Details of the tender are available on www.mom.gov.af.

Most of Afghanistan's modest tally of oil and gas fields date from the period of Soviet Russian occupation but only one small field remains in production.

NATO-led forces and the Taliban remain locked in a stalemate with violence set to rise further this year as more U.S. troops arrive and seek to contain the insurgency ahead of August elections. [ID:nISL492329]