Dear Readers:
I’m excited to welcome you to the website of the Liberia Petroleum Regulatory Authority (LPRAaz). The Authority was established through an Act of the Legislature, following an aggressive reform program within the petroleum sector, as an independent regulatory entity of government. The Authority is principally authorized to conduct a technical evaluation of the areas to be opened up for petroleum operations, supervise and manage bid rounds and all other associated processes, enter into petroleum agreements and monitor petroleum operations, supervise petroleum data storage, and assist the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) in collecting lawful revenue accruing to the state under all petroleum-related agreements or licenses.
Liberia is endowed with bountiful natural resources including those that are within reach and perfunctorily exploitable, as well as a wide range of elusive natural endowments. One of these unknown endowments is the potential accumulation of petroleum. The country has made a tremendous effort towards the discovery of exploitable and economically viable petroleum with 10 wells being drilled between 2010-2015 more than any other period in our nation’s epoch. This number is extremely low compared to the existing threshold of exploratory wells drilled by successful countries in the region. Significantly, these wells identified the working petroleum system affording us a unique opportunity to understand the geology of our offshore acreage in order to plan with precision and efficiency in the future. While we have not been able to locate any commercial accumulation, our efforts were strengthened by reprocessing and integrating well data. The information generated from this process allows us to continuously engage with international and local partners in rebranding the sector and reigniting interest in our basin.
The deadly Ebola crisis did not just take precious lives and impacted our ability to deliver social services but consequentially caused investors’ flight affecting the petroleum sector. Now that the country has recovered, albeit not fully from the Ebola scourge, the need to recommence active programs within the Liberia basin cannot be overemphasized. We will reach out and engage our partners and supporters to develop a sector that is beneficial to the government and people of Liberia, investors, and the entire sub-region.
Liberia is part of the Transformed Atlantic Margin where the Cretaceous plays have been the subject of previous exploration and discoveries. Initial results from exploration programs offshore Liberia reveal the existence of two active petroleum systems- The Upper Cretaceous and Lower Cretaceous. This geological position makes the country suitable for doing business with a high probability of discovery.
In support of the President of Liberia’s dream of lifting the poor out of poverty through maximum and optimum used of natural resources, I will do everything existing in my power and ability to ensure that this dream is realized. I can assure you that we will form partnerships with other regulators and governments around the world to share experiences and improve the business climate for oil and gas exploration. We will also work with local regulatory entities to ensure that the laws extant in this jurisdiction will be enforced adequately in all activities within the sector. As indicated repeatedly by His Excellency, GEORGE M. WEAH, PRESIDENT OF LIBERIA, Liberian businesses will be given the opportunity to participate in the sector and where such capacity is lacking, programs will be developed to address the old age problem.
Finally, the key principles of sustainability and good governance including transparency, accountability, and sustainable natural resource extraction will be adopted in the sector. These core values and principles will allow us to protect this generation and future generation in the quest to sustainably explore, exploit, and utilize our potential petroleum resources.
God Bless Liberia
Archie N. Donmo
Director-General