January 28, 2020. Monrovia. Demonstrating his commitment to recommencing the country’s oil and gas program following a brief period of dormancy due to slump in oil prices and the Ebola crisis in 2014, the President of Liberia has announced that the Liberia Petroleum Regulatory Authority (LPRA) will officially conduct the 4^th Offshore Licensing Round targeting Nine (9) blocks within the Harper Basin. “My Fellow Liberians, I am pleased to announce to you today, that the Government of Liberia, through the Liberia Petroleum Regulatory Authority (LPRA), will open up the entire Harper Basin during the next Licensing Round beginning in April 2020”, the President revealed to the National Legislature in his 3^rd State of the Nation Address (SONA).

Commencing on April 10, 2020, the Bid Round is expected to last for a period of six (6) months covering activities of pre-qualification, bid solicitation, marketing events (roadshows), bid evaluation and declaration of winner.  The President continued that two years ago, following his inauguration in 2018, he “pledged to accelerate actions towards advancing the nation’s aspiration for oil and gas discovery.”  The vision is to “promote efficient institutional governance, integrate the principles of accountability and transparency, maximize revenue from potential petroleum resources, and supports Liberian citizens”, he intimated.

LPRA, in collaboration with NOCAL, and with technical support from TGS, will announce, over the next weeks, the procedure and requirements for participating in the bid rounds including pre-qualification criteria, locations of roadshows, data room access, and all pertinent information surrounding the licensing round.

Following the 2019 amendment to the petroleum law, LPRA re-demarcated the entire offshore acreage resorting into 33 blocks, out of which 24 blocks are located within the Liberia Basin and 9 blocks within the Harper Basin. The Harper Basin is one of the last unexplored and undrilled regions within the “West Africa Transform Margin (WATM)”, a 1,500km stretch, mostly covering Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, and some aspects of Guinea, which have had huge discoveries of hydrocarbons.