Sar-e Pol

Sar-e Pol anchors Afghanistan's oil extraction economy. The Kashkari, Angot, and Aq Darya oil fields now produce over 1,000 metric tons of crude daily from 20 wells. The Qashqari field alone holds an initial assessment of 19.6 million tons with recoverable reserves of approximately 6 million tons. By February 2024, the Afghanistan Oil and Gas Corporation projected expansion to 47 operational wells producing 3,000 tonnes daily by year's end—a significant increase from the 5,000 barrels per day achieved when new wells opened.

Chinese investment drives the expansion. Afg-Chin Oil and Gas Limited plans to activate 24 new wells and construct a new refinery, adding to their existing 4,000-ton reservoir with a planned 6,000-ton facility in Qashqari. In May 2025, Russian company Inteko Group signed agreements for joint extraction and processing, signaling deepening foreign interest. Afghanistan's northern oil fields—concentrated in Sar-e Pol, Jowzjan, and Faryab—contain an estimated 1.9 billion barrels of crude and 15 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

The province represents the Taliban's bet on resource extraction as an alternative revenue source following the poppy ban and frozen foreign aid. Afghanistan's $3 trillion in untapped mineral and hydrocarbon resources attracts investors despite international isolation. Yet oil production remains modest by global standards, and questions persist about whether extraction can scale sufficiently to transform a country where 22.9 million people require humanitarian assistance. Sar-e Pol's wells produce real oil, but whether they can produce economic transformation remains uncertain.