Sierra Leonean licensing bid round for 126 oil blocks has attracted several investors including five oil and gas super majors, energynewsafrica.com can report.
Foday B. L. Mansaray, Director General of the Petroleum Directorate of Sierra Leone, disclosed to this portal that the response from investors for the West African country’s oil blocks has been very positive.
Although he could not disclose the names of the investors, he said among them are five supermajors.
Sierra Leone has about 126 oil blocks with 56 blocks covering 63,600sqkm going for licensing round while 70 blocks are going for direct negotiations.
The blocks are 1,360 square kilometres each.
The West African country is home to a working petroleum system that was supported by small-scale oil and gas discoveries, including the Venus-B1, Mercury-1 and Jupiter-1 wells by Anadarko and the Savannah-1X well by Lukoil.
Oil and gas exploration in the country began nearly four decades ago with the drilling of two wildcat exploration wells but was put on pause sometime in 2015/2016.
Sierra Leone’s Petroleum Directorate operates under the mandate to unlock the full potential of its national hydrocarbon resources, regulating the exploration and production of affordable, reliable and cleaner energy across Sierra Leone.
The country has a favourable fiscal regime and offers good returns for investors.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
