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Liberia revises terms of

offshore bidding round

LIBERIA THE Liberia Petroleum Regulatory Authority an enabling business environment, one of the
(LPRA) has made the terms of this year’s off- promises made by President George M. Weah,”
shore licensing round more flexible. LPRA said in a statement.
In a statement dated July 20, LPRA cited the The agency launched the 2020 licensing
impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pan- round on April 10 by inviting international
demic as the reason for the changes. Archie oil companies (IOCs) to submit requests for
Donmo, the director-general of the agency, said pre-qualification, and it will accept applications
that the revisions had been made “in response until October 31. Subsequently, it will permit
to the devastating impact of COVID-19 on the IOCs that have pre-qualified and have received
global price of oil, share price of E&P [explora- a notice of qualification to submit bids between
tion and production] companies, and the sen- November of this year and February 2021.
sitivity of the Government of Liberia towards “Thereafter, LPRA will issue notice of awards to
mitigating this impact and attracting interna- companies whose bids have been accepted and
tional investment in the Harper Basin, one of evaluated as most responsive and invite same to
the untapped regions within the West Africa formalise a petroleum-sharing agreement,” the
Transform Margin.” statement said.
One of the changes concerns the original Liberia is offering nine offshore blocks to
requirement that winning bidders commit to investors in the licensing round: LB-25, LB-26,
paying a signature bonus of at least $8mn in a LB-27, LB-28, LB-29, LB-30, LB-31, LB-32 and
single tranche. The agency is now making the LB-33. ™
signature bonus a biddable item, eliminating the
minimum requirement and permitting poten-
tial investors to submit their own proposals for
the size and timing of payments. “This allows
the industry to determine the signature value
for each block based on submissions,” LPRA
commented.
Additionally, the agency will no longer
require participants in the auction to purchase
2D seismic data covering the entire Harper
Basin. Instead, companies will only have to pur-
chase data covering the blocks for which they
submit bids.
“Cognisant of the profound difficulties beset-
ting exploration companies at the moment, the
government believes that these changes will
incentivise investment in the Harper Basin
and [demonstrate] its commitment to creating Liberia is offering nine blocks in the bidding round (Image: LPRA)

Chevron confirms plan to buy Sasol’s

indirect stake in Escravos GTL plant

NIGERIA THE US major Chevron has confirmed that one Nigeria Ltd (CNL), told Vanguard last week that
of its subsidiaries is slated to acquire additional his company had finalised an agreement with
equity in the Escravos gas-to-liquid (EGTL) Sasol Middle East and India (Pty) Ltd, an affiliate
plant from South Africa’s Sasol. of Sasol, on the purchase of its partner’s minor-
Esimaje Brikinn, the general manager of pol- ity stake in Chevron Sasol EGTL. The deal gives
icy, government and public affairs for Chevron CNL a 10% stake in the EGTL facility, he said.

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