Published on 08/23/2006

Soviet estimates from the late 1970s placed Afghanistans proven and probable Oil and condensate reserves at 95 million barrels. Most Soviet assistance efforts after the mid-1970s were aimed at increasing Natural Gas production. Sporadic gas exploration continued through the mid-1980s. The last Soviet technical advisors left Afghanistan in 1988. After a brief hiatus, oil production at the Angot field was restarted in the early 1990s by local militias. Output levels, however, are thought to have been less than 300 barrels per day (bbl/d). Near Sar-i-Pol, the Soviets partially constructed a 10,000-bbl/d topping plant, which although undamaged by war, is thought by Western experts to be unsalvageable.
Petroleum products such as diesel, Gasoline, and jet fuel are imported, mainly from Pakistan and Uzbekistan, with limited volumes from Turkmenistan and Iran serving regional markets. Turkmenistan also has a petroleum product storage and distribution facility at Tagtabazar (Kushka – on the Turkmen side) near the Afghan border, which supplies northwestern Afghanistan.

Coal Reserves in Afghanistan

Besides Oil and Natural Gas, Afghanistan also is estimated to have 73 million tons of Coal reserves, most of which is located in the region between Herat and Badashkan in the northern part of the country. Although Afghanistan produced over 100,000 short tons of coal annually as late as the early 1990s, as of 2000, the country was producing only around 1,000 short tons.

Afghanistans Alternate Energy Resources

In addition to commercial energy, Afghanistan utilizes such traditional, "non-commercial" energy sources as wood. According to a study by the ADB, more than 85 percent of Afghanistans energy needs are met by such traditional fuels, but this has led to serious deforestation in the country.
Afghanistans power grid has been severely damaged by years of war, and less than 10 percent of its population currently has access to electricity, with Kabul suffering power shortages. Transmission lines from the Kajaki Dam in Helmand province near Kandahar were hit by an airstike in November 2001, but were repaired in early 2002. On several occasions since then, however, power to Kandahar has been cut off by attacks on the transmission lines. Three hydro-electric power dams provide baseload power to Kabul: the 100-MW Naghlu dam, the 66-MW Mahi Par dam, and the 22-MW Sarobi dam, with the latter two facilities slated to be rehabilitated, under a $16.9 million contract let to Voith Siemens in early 2004. Due to a lack of water flow on the Kabul River, only the Naghlu Dam, which has a sizable Reservoir capacity, is operational all-year round to meet the needs of Kabul. The dams are located about 50 miles from Kabul and are linked by a 110-kV, double-circuit transmission line. Since the early 1990s, United Nations de-mining teams have intermittently worked on the area around the line. Aside from mines, the power line also has a number of technical problems, which further limit power supplies to Kabul. Prior to the early 1990s, Kabul also had two gas-fired power plants located on the outskirts of the city. ABB recently refurbished one of the plants, which has a 45-MW capacity. It is anticipated to be used to meet peaking demand for the foreseeable future. The other plant, with a 44-MW capacity, was partly destroyed in the early 1990s.
Neighboring countries also supply electricity to some of Afghanistans border regions. Turkmenistan supplies electricity to much of northwestern Afghanistan, including Mazar-i-Sharif and Herat. This arrangement was affirmed in an agreement signed in August 2002 between the Karzai government and Turkmenistan, continuing an earlier agreement between the Taliban government and Turkmenistan. Uzbekistan also supplies electricity to the northern area around Mazar-i-Sharif, supplementing a small local gas-fired power plant. Uzbekistan resumed its supply arrangement in August 2002, after having terminated supplies of electricity in 1999 during the period of Taliban rule. In May 2003, Tajikistan resumed supplies of electricity to the northern Afghanistan province of Kunduz, although power supplies were expected to halt in October 2003. Iran also supplies electricity to Afghanistan, in some areas directly adjacent to the Afghan-Iranian border in Herat, Farah, and Nimroz provinces. Reportedly, Iran plans to increase power supplies to Afghanistans Herat province from Khorasan.