DoD's Compressed Natural Gas Filling Station in Afghanistan: An Ill-conceived $43 Million Project.

摘要

The Task Force for Business and Stability Operations (TFBSO or Task Force) was originally created by the Department of Defense (DOD) to help revive the post-invasion economy of Iraq. In 2009, TFBSO was redirected to Afghanistan, where its mission was to carry out projects to support economic development. From 2010 through 2014, Congress appropriated approximately $822 million to TFBSO for Afghanistan, of which the task force obligated approximately $766 million. The SIGAR Audit Directorate and the SIGAR Office of Special Projects is in the process of reviewing TFBSO activities. This report is one in a series of reports SIGAR plans to issue on TFBSO activities and spending in Afghanistan.1 According to the latest figures available from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Afghanistan imported 100 percent of the refined petroleum products it consumed between 1980 and 2012 and consumption of petroleum products has risen dramatically since 2005.2 However, Afghanistan has the potential to produce much more energy domestically. In 2006, the U.S. Geological Survey found that Northern Afghanistan has an estimated 15,687 billion cubic feet in undiscovered reserves of natural gas, along with deposits of oil and natural gas liquids.3 The TFBSO Downstream Gas Utilization Project was intended to take advantage of Afghanistan s natural gas reserves and reduce the country s reliance on expensive imported gasoline. The project consisted of the construction and operation of a CNG automobile filling station in the city of Sheberghan, near Afghanistan s natural gas fields.4 TFBSO initiated the project to demonstrate that compressed natural gas is commercially viable as an automobile fuel in Afghanistan and to promote its wider use in the country. CNG for an automobile costs approximately 50 percent less than a comparable amount of gasoline in Afghanistan and burns cleaner than gasoline, reducing the production of pollutants.