Liberia Goes Back to the Offshore Market, and Transparency Will Decide the Outcome

Liberia is making another push for offshore oil investment. The Liberia Petroleum Regulatory Authority (LPRA) will present its 2026 Offshore Direct Negotiation Licensing Round at African Energy Week in Cape Town. The formal launch is on 14 October at the Orchid, CTICC 2, with the round organised in partnership with Energy Capital & Power (ECP). For a country still rebuilding after civil war and the Ebola crisis, the offer is large, and so are the expectations.

What is on offer
According to the organisers, the round covers 16 offshore blocks across the Liberia and Harper basins, supported by more than 50,000 line-km of 2D seismic data and over 31,000 km² of 3D seismic data. The blocks in the Liberia Basin are LB-1, LB-2, LB-3, LB-7, LB-8, LB-12, LB-13, LB-14, LB-18, LB-19, LB-20, LB-21 and LB-23. The Harper Basin blocks are LB-25, LB-28 and LB-33 .

TGS and Core Laboratories have supported the technical work, including 12,000 km of reprocessed 2D seismic and 5,100 km² of reprocessed 3D data.

The pitch leans on the neighbourhood. The Harper Basin is described as geologically related to Ivory Coast's offshore system, where Eni's Baleine and Calao discoveries have shown the regional margin's promise. A natural question follows: if the geology resembles Ivory Coast's, why has Liberia not yet produced oil? The answer, as in much of frontier exploration, is that discoveries depend on drilling, and drilling depends on companies willing to spend large sums on uncertain odds.

How the round works
Instead of a conventional competitive bid, Liberia uses direct negotiation. Companies first prequalify on technical capability, financial strength and offshore experience. Prequalification opened on 28 August and is valid for five years. Qualified companies then negotiate exploration programmes and terms for individual blocks.

The resulting production sharing contracts (PSCs) need the signatures of both the LPRA and the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, under the 2014 Petroleum Exploration and Production Act and its 2019 amendments. The LPRA says it will keep published qualification criteria and equal treatment for applicants.

The authority points to recent momentum. In 2025, Liberia awarded and ratified eight deepwater PSCs, which brought more than $27 million in signature bonuses and $14.6 million in surface rentals.

TotalEnergies is working on blocks LB-06, LB-11, LB-17 and LB-29, and Oranto Petroleum on LB-15, LB-16, LB-22 and LB-24. The LPRA has also joined the African Petroleum Regulators Forum, which Director General Marilyn Logan says will help build technical capacity.

The questions that matter
Several points need independent scrutiny:

Direct negotiation and transparency. This model offers flexibility but gives officials more discretion than an open auction. Citizens and civil society should expect published contracts, signature bonus accounts and clear rules on beneficial ownership.

Who gets the money? Signature bonuses are modest next to what a producing field could earn. The law and public financial management must make sure revenue reaches schools, hospitals and roads, and not only a small circle.

Regulatory capacity. Logan herself has said regulating an active offshore programme is a technical business [5]. A small regulator facing large foreign operators needs skills, independence and funding.

Environmental and fisheries risk. Offshore activity can affect coastal communities that depend on fishing. Impact assessments and compensation should be settled before drilling.

Realistic expectations. A licensing round is not a discovery, and a discovery is not production. Many exploration campaigns end with dry holes.

A lesson for Ghana and West Africa
Ghana has lived this story. Oil brought revenue and jobs, along with disputes over transparency, local content and how the money is spent. Liberia can learn from its neighbours, and its neighbours can learn from how openly Liberia handles its own contracts. The Atlantic margin from Senegal to Ivory Coast is turning into a competitive frontier, and countries that combine good geology with clean governance will attract the most serious investors.

A note on the source
The press release was distributed by APO Group on behalf of Energy Capital & Power, which is also the organiser of the licensing round campaign and of African Energy Week. Its figures and descriptions are promotional and should be checked against the LPRA's own materials and independent technical assessments.

Mustapha Bature Sallama
Medical/ Science Communicator,
Private Investigator, Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Analysis,

International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding. (USIP)

[email protected]
+233555275880

References
APO Group for Energy Capital & Power, "CORRECTION: Liberia Petroleum Regulatory Authority (LPRA) to Showcase Liberia's 2026 Offshore Licensing Round in Cape Town," 7 October 2026 (press release supplied).

Energy Capital & Power, "LPRA Invites Investors to Explore Liberia's 2026 Offshore Licensing Round at AEW 2026": https://energycapitalpower.com/lpra-invites-investors-to-explore-liberias-2026-offshore-licensing-round-at-aew-2026/

FrontPageAfrica, "Liberia Opens 2026 Petroleum Licensing Round, Invites Global Oil Investors," 28 August 2026: https://frontpageafricaonline.com/liberia-opens-2026-petroleum-licensing-round-invites-global-oil-investors/

Energy Capital & Power, "Liberia to Launch 2026 Direct Negotiation Licensing Round in Q4, LPRA Says at Investor Showcase": https://energycapitalpower.com/liberia-to-launch-2026-direct-negotiation-licensing-round-in-q4-lpra-says-at-investor-showcase/

Liberian Observer, "LPRA Takes Liberia to Africa Oil Regulators Table," 8 September 2026: https://www.liberianobserver.com/news/lpra-takes-liberia-to-africa-oil-regulators-table/article_3c47e62e-4a68-47df-a787-9182a588fe02.html