The National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL) has indicated that, after many months of interaction with ExxonMobil after they requested for access to Liberia’s offshore data, the American multinational oil and gas corporation has expressed interest in four blocks in the Liberia basin.
ExxonMobil is one of the world’s largest publicly traded international oil and gas companies. The company has a previous exploration history in Liberia. In 2013 ExxonMobil acquired petroleum rights on the then Block-13 and drilled the Mesurado-1 Well in 2016.
According to a NOCAL release, “At the beginning of his administration, President George M. Weah called on companies to come and take advantage of the opportunities offshore Liberia. He said that Liberia is open to all for business. In late 2020, ExxonMobil initially approached NOCAL for access to seismic data through our data partner, TGS Nopec. Having access to the right set of data is the first step to enter into an offshore block for full exploration activities. Since ExxonMobil’s request, NOCAL has worked assiduously and in a timely manner to ensure that the international oil company (OIL) got all they needed for a smooth sail to the direct negotiation process that is setup and organized by the Liberia Petroleum Regulatory Authority (LPRA).
“After several months of review of the data, ExxonMobil has expressed interest in Blocks 15, 16, 22 and 24 within the Liberia Basin, and the company has now officially applied to be pre-qualified to negotiate for the blocks,” the NOCAL press release continued.
“NOCAL will continue to work to make sure that the Liberia and Harper basins become active and all the benefits of these oil and gas companies coming into our basins will be felt by the Liberian people through this government.”