BMI View: By offering terms that its rivals deemed non-commercial, China's CNPC has won acreage in Afghanistan's frst successful licensing round. Once confrmed, the award will help kick-start the Afghan oil industry, using CNPC's geological expertise and possibly its infrastructure on the Turkmen side of the border. State-run China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) has won a tender to develop three blocks in Afghanistan's Amu Darya Basin, beating off competition from four international oil companies (IOCs). The award, which should be confrmed by mid-October following negotiations on the contract for the blocks, will mark the completion of Afghanistan's frst successful licensing round. CNPC is well-placed to develop the blocks as it is already producing oil from the same formation in neighbouring Turkmenistan.
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