Assessment of oil and gas resources of northern Afghanistan and their impact on energy security in the country

Developing and utilization from hydrocarbon resources of northern Afghanistan is very important for ensuring the energy security and development of the least developed country in Asia. The estimation made by the USGS and Afghanistan geological survey revealed substantial oil and gas resources in the Amu Darya and Afghan-Tajik basins of northern Afghanistan that created an optimistically bright landscape for ensuring the energy availability and development of the country. This study evaluates the Amu Darya and Afghan-Tajik hydrocarbon basins and their development prospective. In 2020, field trips were arranged to Sheberghan and Sar-e-Pul oil and gas fields for collecting information, conducting interviews, and evaluating the infrastructures of oil and gas fields. The findings described that the infrastructures for producing oil and gas are old, poorly maintained, and have limited production capacity. There are serious obstacles, such as security problems, undeveloped infrastructures, and technical issues that are needed to be considered. © 2020 Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.