The Liberia Petroleum Regulatory Authority (LPRA) has pre-qualified seven Liberian companies for its offshore licence round.
Nine companies applied, but the regulator rejected two, it said. It cited shortcomings in their legal and financial competence, but did not name the two.
The seven approved are: DEMUS Exploration and Production, Jungle Energy Power, New Millennium Oil and Gas, Africa Oil and Gas, Green Petroleum (Liberia), MAC-Africa Petroleum and TSC Global.
The National Oil Co. of Liberia (NOCAL), the Ministry of Mines and Energy, the Ministry of Finance, the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) and LPRA worked to evaluate companies.
Liberia’s Petroleum Law stipulates that 5% of any petroleum agreement must go to a locally owned company. The LPRA said it would provide the list of Liberian companies to any qualified international bidder for a possible future partnership.
The licence round covers nine offshore blocks in the Harper Basin. These have never been drilled before. The regulator launched the bid round in April this year and will run until February 2021.
Jungle Energy Power is part of Tomah Seh Floyd Sr’s group, which provides electricity to Nimba County. New Millennium was named in a Global Witness report of 2015 for its involvement in logging. Green Petroleum is a registered fuel distributor.
The regulator moved the licence round launch online in April, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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