Afghanistan government has signed an oil exploration and production contract with an international consortium of energy companies for two blocks in the Afghan-Tajik oil and gas basin in northern part of the country. A press release issued by the Afghan Mines and Petroleum Ministry in Kabul yesterday said the contracts were awarded through transparent bid selection process reviewed by six cabinet ministries and independent experts. The three company international consortium includes the Dragon Oil company of the UAE, the Turkish Petroleum Corporation and Ghazanfar Group of Afghanistan. The two blocks under contract are in the western part of the Afghan-Tajik Basin in northern Afghanistan and are believed to contain significant accumulations of oil, gas and hydrocarbons. The blocks ae located between the provinces of Jowzjan and Kunduz provinces in northern Afghanistan. Afghanistan's northern neighbors have already identified significant deposits of oil and gas, with Turkmenistan reportedly having the world's second-largest natural gas reserves. Similarly Uzbekistan and Tajikistan have also discovered commercial quantities of hydrocarbons in their area around Amu river basin. According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), Afghanistan's mineral resources are estimated at one trillion dollar, and majority of the natural gas is located in the Amu Darya basin, while the crude oil is largely found in an area known as Afghan-Tajik. The USGS estimates that 1.6 billion barrels of crude oil, 16 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 500 million barrels of liquefied natural gas deposits are available in north Afghanistan.