China Firm’s Crude Output Surges 300% in Taliban-led Afghanistan

China’s Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas Co. has boosted crude oil production in Afghanistan, potentially helping the Taliban government reduce its reliance on petroleum imports from neighboring nations.

The company has drilled 10 new oil wells in the South Asian nation, boosting its production by four-fold to about 5,000 barrels a day, Humayoon Afghan, a spokesman of the Afghanistan’s Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, said by phone. The oil will be refined in the country, he added.