Liberia plans to announce an ultradeepwater licensing round after it acquires 15,000 km of 2D seismic, gravity, and magnetic data.
National Oil Co. of Liberia (NOCAL) has let a $16 million contract to TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Co. to collect the data in as much as 4,000 m of water, Dr. Fodee Kromah, president and chief executive officer of NOCAL told OGJ in an exclusive interview.
TGS will start the work later this year provided there is enough industry interest. Offshore Liberia has attracted significant industry attention due to recently announced discoveries in the Gulf of Guinea and Sierra Leone.
Earlier this month, NOCAL opened its third petroleum bidding round covering five blocks, which will close on Nov. 30. A ceremony to open bids for blocks LB-1, LB-2, LB-3, LB-4, and LB-5, is set for Dec. 1. NOCAL is offering production sharing contracts that expected to be signed by June 2010.
Kromah told OGJ that despite the downturn and global recession, he was confident that Liberia would attract interest in its blocks, which each span 3,000 sq km and lie in as much as 3,000 m of water.
Liberia is not an oil and gas producer. "We planned this round before hearing of Anadarko's discovery off Sierra Leone and there is a lot of interest," he said. "Liberia and Sierra Leone are in the same basin."
Kromah added that no date could yet be given for the deepwater licensing round until it had received the information from TGS-NOPEC.
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