Chris Doss The Russia Journal ------------------ Russian oil and gas companies to study feasibility of rebuilding Afghanistan's gas industry
MOSCOW (AP/Dow Jones) - Russia's state-owned oil company Rosneft and its second-largest natural gas producer, Itera Holding, will do a feasibility study on the prospects of rebuilding Afghanistan's gas industry, Rosneft said Thursday.
The Russian companies reached an agreement Wednesday with the Afghan Mining and Industry Ministry, under which Russian specialists will study the state of the country's gas fields and pipeline network over the coming month.
Russian companies will finance the feasibility study and provide the Afghans with information on the work of Soviet Union specialists in Afghanistan's gas industry prior to 1988.
In turn, Rosneft will participate in the development and privatization of oil and gas blocs that Afghanistan will offer in the future, the statement said.
Rosneft said Afghanistan has substantial reserves of light low-sulfur oil and gas worth around dlrs 22 billion.
In the 1980s, Afghanistan exported the bulk of its gas - as much as 3 billion cubic meters (106 billion cubic feet) - to the Soviet Union.