Saudi Firm Signs $200 Million Deal with Afghanistan for Oil and Gas Exploration

Afghanistan has signed a major deal with Saudi oil and gas company Delta International Energy to explore and extract hydrocarbons from a 22,000 sq. km basin in the country's west.

The $200 million contract was inked in Kabul on Monday by Mines and Petroleum Minister Hedayatullah Badri and Delta CEO Shaher Al-Taqi, with the presence of Taliban leadership and former US special representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad.

The deal covers seven blocks in the Kushk-Tirpul oil and gas basin across Afghanistan's western provinces of Herat and Badghis. The exploration period is set at eight years, while the contract will run for 25 years.

Afghanistan's top official Hedayatullah Badri said after signing that the extraction of oil and gas from the area 'will make us self-sufficient.'