The China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) has won a contract to drill for oil in three blocks of the Amu Darya basin in north-west Afghanistan, The Independent reports.
The Kashkari, Bazarkhami and Zamarudsay blocks contain an estimated 80m barrels of oil, the report says.
Production is not expected to start until at least the end of 2014 because of archeological finds in the area.
CNPC offered the highest royalty and a refinery to win Afghanistan's first oilfield auction last month, Bloomberg News reports.
The company will pay 15 percent royalty on oil from the three blocks and 30 percent corporate tax and also build a refinery, the report says. The deal is expected to be completed in a month.
The Afghan government will hold its next oilfield auction in the area in February, the Bloomberg report says.
The CNPC deal is the second prominent Chinese raw materials investment in Afghanistan, following a 2007 agreement by China Metallurgical Corp's right to mine the country's biggest known copper deposit at Aynak, south of Kabul, The Independent notes.
