Afghanistan says finds 1.8 billion barrel oilfield

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/news/international/Afghanistan_says_finds_1.8_billion_barrel_oilfield.html?cid=23633056

Aug 15, 2010 - 09:58 Afghanistan says finds 1.8 billion barrel oilfield
By Sayed Salahuddin

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan said on Sunday it had discovered an oilfield with an estimated 1.8 billion barrels in the north of the war-ravaged country, where U.S. and other foreign forces are trying to tame a Taliban-led insurgency.

The discovery of the basin between northern Balkh and Shiberghan provinces was made after a survey conducted by Afghan and international geologists, said Jawad Omar, a spokesman for the ministry of mines.

"I do not know its price in the market. But the initial survey says there are 1.8 billion barrels of oil and I think there will be more than what it is estimated," he told Reuters.

Various estimates of Afghanistan's hidden wealth have been made in recent years, but the challenge of exploiting the resources in a country at war and with little mining infrastructure is daunting for most investors.

[IDemo]

1. This, on top of their recent huge mineral resources announcement

Yeah, we'll be leaving real soon.

Incidentally, that's only about 21 days worth of oil at current global usage rates, still a pretty large find by today's standards.

[applegrove]

6. Do you ever think of the women of Afghanistan under the Taliban and what it would be like if

Nato left before there is an army there? Imagine how much more women would be repressed if the Taliban had access to all that wealth. They could really institutionalize misogynist law. I always think of that when I think about Afghanistan.

[AlabamaLibrul]

8. You have to assume that women aren't being repressed as much as is humanly possible

currently, and that it would get any better or worse without a piss-poor example of an occupying force there.

The NATO troops ***ARE NOT*** in power on the ground in Afghanistan.

[gateley]

2. Thank God Cheney and Bush and Rumsfeld aren't in the WH - we'd NEVER get

out of there!

[obxhead]

3. The truth of why we fight manages to slip out from time to time.

Global corporations want to mine and drill there. The corporations that build our bombs and bullets want to keep building them at massive rates.

This is why we fight there still.

It's also why we have never heard what a "win" looks like. If we achieve it they lose all support to continue.

[Odin2005]

4. Hmmm...

[Octafish]

5. Thank Cheney Halliburton's already there!

Whew! What a coincidence.

[OilemFirchen]

7. Diamonds and Poppies and Oil

Oh my!

[LooseWilly]

9. Sounds like a good time...

Hell, with enough poppies, you don't even need alcohol.