September 7 -- CNPC, the parent of PetroChina (601857.SH), won a contract to explore for oil in Afghanistan's Amu Darya region, beating off competition from Buccaneer Energy, Tethys Petroleum and Shazhad International, reports Wenweipo, citing HK media reports.

In addition, CNPC announced plans to raise up to 55 billion yuan.

According to local officials, CNPC offered the highest bid, and was willing to pay 15 percent per barrel as exploration fees, 30 percent of profits as corporate taxes, and build an oil refinery for $300 million, which is expected to be operational by the end of 2014.

The project is expected to produce 80 million barrels of crude oil.

Afghanistan is estimated to possess 1.6 billion barrels of oil resources, and another 16 trillion cubic meters of natural gas resources.

According to Reuters, CNPC plans to issue 15 billion yuan worth of short-term financing bills, and 20 billion yuan worth of mid-term bills.