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Liberia extends bidding
in offshore licensing round
LIBERIA
THE government of Liberia has extended the deadline for submitting bids in the country’s first offshore licensing round by four months.
According to a statement from TGS, the Norwegian geophysical company that has estab- lished a data library to support the auctions, Liberia began accepting bids on April 10 and will continue to do so until February 28, 2021. Officials in Monrovia had previously set Octo- ber 1, 2020, as the closing date.
The extension appears to be related to the coronavirus pandemic. In the statement, TGS reported that Liberian President George Weah had “instructed the Liberia Petroleum Regula- tory Authority (LPRA) that all initial engage- ment, promotional events, consultations and business meetings relating to the Liberia Off- shore License Round 2020 must be conducted online, via the dedicated bid round website or other virtual platforms.”
It added: “There will be no physical meetings during the initial phases of the bid round until this deadly disease is defeated.”
Liberia is offering nine blocks to investors in the licensing round: LB-25, LB-26, LB-27, LB-28, LB-29, LB-30, LB-31, LB-32 and LB-33. All are located within the Harper Basin, which TGS described as “one of the last unexplored and undrilled regions offshore West Africa.”
The Norwegian company said that its data room contained a range of data collected by multiple sources from the blocks, including 5,961 km of 2D seismic, gravity and magnetic data, as well as 6,167 square km of 3D seismic, gravity and magnetic data.
Liberia’s government has taken steps to attract potential investors to the auctions. “The round is being launched in parallel with
attractive amendments to Liberia’s Petroleum Law, following major regulatory changes in October 2019, and the extension of the explo- ration period, in order to attract international investors,” TGS noted.
Meanwhile, the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL) has touted the assets involved in the bidding round. Earlier this year, Lester Tenny, NOCAL’s vice president for technical services, said at a round-table discussion in Monrovia that he was confident that the coun- try’s offshore zone held oil. “We will find oil,” he declared. “Ivory Coast discovered oil just right around the same area [where] we are going to launch the bid round.”
TGS, for its part, also talked up Liberia’s potential, saying: “Several sub-commercial dis- coveries have proven that the petroleum systems are working offshore Liberia.” It also pointed out that the Harper Basin’s petroleum system was analogous to nearby basins associated with hydrocarbon finds in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, as well as a conjugate basin offshore Guyana, on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. ™
Libya’s Zawiya refinery has been offline since February (Image: TGS)
Uganda extends pre-qualification phase of second bidding round
UGANDA
A representative of Uganda’s Energy Ministry said last week that the government had decided to push back the closing date for the pre-quali- fication stage country’s second licensing round.
Frank Mugisha, the ministry official who is serving as manager of the bidding round,
told New Vision that Ugandan authorities had moved the deadline for participation in this stage of the process back by six months to Sep- tember 30, 2020. They took this step in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, he explained.
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