LIBERIA · ENERGY
Key Facts
- —What is happening Liberia’s Petroleum Regulatory Authority launched a direct negotiation round for 15 offshore oil blocks on Wednesday 14 October in Cape Town, and letters of intent are due by Thursday 15 April 2027.
- —Why it matters The round is not a competitive auction: qualified companies negotiate block by block, which gives US and other oil firms a direct route into deepwater acreage off West Africa.
- —The numbers The 15 blocks cover about 43,900 square kilometres in water 10 to 4,500 metres deep, and prequalification costs US$20,000 for listed firms and US$25,000 for unlisted ones.
- —Who is who The Liberia Petroleum Regulatory Authority is the state regulator that licenses oil blocks; Marilyn T. Logan is its director general, and Joseph Boakai is Liberia’s president.
- —What to watch Watch for prequalified companies and their letters of intent before 15 April 2027, and for the first production sharing contract negotiations that follow.
- —What it means for you US energy firms can apply for prequalification now, while US readers should expect no oil from these blocks soon, because exploration must come first.
Liberia has opened 15 offshore oil blocks to direct talks with oil companies. Letters of intent are due by 15 April 2027.
Liberia has opened 15 offshore oil blocks to international companies in a round launched in Cape Town on Wednesday 14 October 2026. Companies have until Thursday 15 April 2027 to file letters of intent, and the process is a negotiation rather than an auction.
The Liberia Petroleum Regulatory Authority, known as the LPRA, runs the round and is open to international oil companies. For US readers, part of the seismic data can be viewed in Houston.
FrontPage Africa, a Monrovia news outlet, ran a press release on the launch on Friday 16 October. The LPRA’s own invitation to participate, a 24-page document, gives the rules, the block list and the fees.
What Liberia Is Offering in the Offshore Oil Blocks
The invitation lists 15 blocks: LB-01 to LB-03, LB-07, LB-12 to LB-14, LB-18 to LB-21, LB-23, LB-25, LB-28 and LB-33. They lie in the Liberia and Harper basins and cover about 43,900 square kilometres, slightly more than Switzerland.
Water depth runs from 10 metres near the coast to ultra-deep water. The text says 4,300 metres, while the block table gives a maximum of 4,500 metres for LB-23.
Three blocks, LB-07, LB-13 and LB-14, are marked as subject to an application for a reconnaissance licence. The invitation does not explain what that means for bidders.
The LPRA says it holds more than 50,000 line-kilometres of 2D seismic data and 31,000 square kilometres of 3D data. The seismic firm TGS licenses the data and can host a data room in London or Houston, Texas.
FrontPage Africa says TGS has reprocessed about 12,000 kilometres of 2D data and 5,100 square kilometres of 3D data. Those figures come from that outlet alone and were not found in the invitation.
How the Direct Negotiation Round Works
The invitation states that this is not a competitive bidding process. The LPRA picks applicants for talks on technical skill, exploration plans, fiscal terms and the quality of the proposal.
If two applicants are equal, the regulator will normally open talks with the one that filed its letter of intent first. Companies must prequalify before they can hold a licence, and prequalification stays valid for five years.
The LPRA expects to tell applicants within 30 days whether they have prequalified. The date of prequalification does not by itself give a claim to any block.
The prequalification fee is US$20,000 for publicly listed companies, US$25,000 for unlisted companies and US$2,500 for Liberian companies. The LPRA says the fee is not revenue but helps pay an independent reviewer.
A negotiation fee of US$25,000 applies to the first block, and each extra block costs US$15,000. The law does not allow several blocks in one contract, so each block gets its own production sharing contract.
A production sharing contract lets a company explore and produce while the state takes a share of the output. The legal base is the Petroleum Exploration and Production Act of 2014, as amended in 2019.
Who Can Apply and the Local Stake
Eligible operators are international oil companies, internationally experienced national oil companies and some exploration-focused firms with deepwater experience. Applicants without experience at every depth may be limited to certain blocks.
The 2019 amendment requires the LPRA to offer a Liberian-owned company a non-carried 5% stake, meaning it pays its own costs. A local firm should show it can invest at least US$15 million.
The invitation says the state oil company, NOCAL, need not take 30% in these contracts. That minimum applies to the separate Executive Allocation route.
Background to the Round
The invitation calls the 2024 round successful. The LPRA’s website lists four contracts signed with TotalEnergies, a French oil major, for blocks LB-6, LB-11, LB-17 and LB-29.
FrontPage Africa says Liberia concluded eight such contracts in 2025 with TotalEnergies and Atlas Oranto Petroleum, an oil exploration firm. The LPRA page opened for this article does not confirm the number eight.
FrontPage Africa says the LPRA held an investor day in Houston on Wednesday 19 August, and prequalification opened on Friday 28 August. An industry press release of 2 October says the launch would take place at African Energy Week.
FrontPage Africa quotes President Joseph Boakai, in a video message, saying no agreement is worth signing unless it works for all parties. It also says Director General Marilyn Logan stressed “Explore or Release,” under which firms must drill or hand back acreage.
What It Means for US Readers
US oil companies can apply for prequalification now, and the data room option in Houston lowers the barrier for Texas-based firms. The invitation does not name any US company as an applicant.
A US reader should not expect oil or fuel price effects from this round soon. These are frontier exploration blocks, and no well has been announced.
For investors, the signal is policy: Liberia is courting capital through negotiation rather than auction. No contract terms have been published for these blocks.
What Is Not Known
It is not known which companies will apply, because letters of intent are not public. The LPRA has named none.
The split of the 15 blocks between the two basins is unclear, because the invitation gives no basin per block. FrontPage Africa counts 12 and three, while an earlier industry release placed more blocks in Harper.
An industry release of 2 October listed 14 available blocks and left out LB-33. The LPRA invitation, which is the primary source, lists 15 including LB-33, and this article follows it.
The fiscal terms of the model contract were not read in full here. Oil discoveries, if any, and the timing of a first well are unknown.
What Comes Next
Companies can prequalify on a rolling basis and must file letters of intent by Thursday 15 April 2027. After that date, a proposal without prequalification cannot join the 2026 round.
The invitation sets no end date for the contract talks themselves. A signed contract does not mean oil is found, and it would still need approval by the LPRA board and the State.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many offshore oil blocks has Liberia opened?
Liberia has opened 15 offshore blocks in the Liberia and Harper basins. The LPRA invitation lists them as LB-01 to LB-03, LB-07, LB-12 to LB-14, LB-18 to LB-21, LB-23, LB-25, LB-28 and LB-33.
Is this an auction?
No, the invitation says it is not a competitive bidding process. Qualified companies negotiate production sharing contracts block by block.
What is the deadline?
Letters of intent must arrive by Thursday 15 April 2027. Prequalification is open on a rolling basis.
What does it cost to apply?
Prequalification costs US$20,000 for listed companies, US$25,000 for unlisted ones and US$2,500 for Liberian firms. Negotiation costs US$25,000 for the first block and US$15,000 for each extra block.
Can US companies take part?
Yes, the invitation is open to international oil companies, and TGS can host a data room in Houston. No US applicant has been named.
Sources: Liberia Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Invitation to Participate in the 2026 Liberia Direct Negotiation Licensing Round; LPRA, Liberia 2026 Licensing Round page; FrontPage Africa, Liberia Opens 15 Offshore Blocks to International Oil Companies, 16 October 2026; Zawya (APO Group release), LPRA to showcase the 2026 round in Cape Town, 2 October 2026 (all accessed 16 October 2026).
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief
Part of our ongoing coverage
Africa: The New Scramble — the great-power contest over the continent.