Liberia Offers 14 Offshore Blocks as 2026 Licensing Round Targets Deepwater Exploration Investment
Liberia has advanced its efforts to attract investment into offshore oil and gas exploration through its 2026 licensing round, offering prospective investors access to geological data covering the Liberia and Harper basins.
The Liberia Petroleum Regulatory Authority (LPRA) is leading the licensing process, supported by more than 50,000 line-kilometres of two-dimensional (2D) seismic data and over 31,000 square kilometres of three-dimensional (3D) seismic data.
The datasets are intended to help companies assess geological structures and identify potential exploration targets.
The available acreage includes Cretaceous structures, deepwater basin-floor fans and structural closures that could potentially contain oil and gas accumulations.
However, further technical assessment and drilling will be required to establish whether the prospects hold commercially recoverable resources.
Geophysical data company TGS and Core Laboratories have supported the technical programme by providing seismic and stratigraphic information to help investors evaluate the offshore acreage.
TGS has reprocessed 12,000 kilometres of 2D seismic data using pre-stack depth migration, a technique designed to improve subsurface imaging.
The company has also reprocessed 5,100 square kilometres of 3D seismic data from a wider 26,000-square-kilometre dataset.
TGS’s broader data library includes more than 24,000 kilometres of legacy 2D seismic data.
Additional gravity, magnetic and well-log datasets are also available to support geological interpretation and the assessment of potential drilling locations.
The information is expected to help prospective investors evaluate the geological potential of Liberia’s offshore basins before committing capital to exploration.
Licensing Process and Available Blocks
The available acreage includes seven blocks in the Liberia Basin — LB-1, LB-2, LB-3, LB-7, LB-12, LB-13 and LB-14 — and seven in the Harper Basin: LB-18, LB-19, LB-20, LB-21, LB-23, LB-25 and LB-28.
Other blocks within the wider licensing grid are already subject to existing commitments or agreements.
TotalEnergies holds interests in LB-6, LB-11, LB-17 and LB-29, covering approximately 12,700 square kilometres.
Atlas Oranto Petroleum holds LB-15, LB-16, LB-22 and LB-24, while PetroQuest has interests connected to LB-32. A separate arrangement involving TotalEnergies and BluEnergies covers LB-26, LB-30 and LB-31 under a study and application process.
The LPRA held an investor day in Houston on 19 August 2026 and opened prequalification on 28 August.
The process requires prospective investors to demonstrate their technical capabilities, financial strength and offshore operating experience before progressing towards negotiations for specific blocks.
Prequalification remains valid for five years but does not guarantee the award of a petroleum licence.
The process operates under Liberia’s 2014 Petroleum Exploration and Production Act and its 2019 amendments.
Any resulting production-sharing contracts require signatures from both the LPRA and the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning.
Harper Basin Attracts Corporate Interest
Interest in the Harper Basin has also been highlighted by Australian independent oil and gas company Bounty Oil & Gas, which agreed on 22 September 2026 to acquire 100% of PetroQuest Liberia Deep Water.
PetroQuest holds an exclusive letter of engagement with the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL) to negotiate a production-sharing contract for block LB-32.
The proposed acquisition could provide Bounty with an entry point into Liberia’s offshore exploration sector, although it does not itself confirm the award of a petroleum licence or an oil discovery.
The Harper Basin has attracted attention because of its geological relationship with the offshore petroleum system of neighbouring Côte d’Ivoire.
Eni’s Baleine and Calao discoveries have strengthened interest in the wider Atlantic margin, while companies including Petrobras and Murphy Oil have pursued comparable Upper Cretaceous deepwater exploration opportunities elsewhere in the region.
These developments provide geological reference points for investors, but Liberia’s prospects will require independent technical assessment.
Liberia Seeks to Revive Offshore Exploration
Liberia’s last formal competitive oil and gas bidding round took place between August and December 2014 under NOCAL but ended unsuccessfully following political disagreements.
The country subsequently adopted a direct-negotiation licensing model, allowing qualified companies to pursue individual exploration opportunities and negotiate proposals for specific blocks. The approach was also used in the 2024 licensing round.
The 2026 process offers Liberia another opportunity to attract investment into its offshore petroleum sector.
Its success will depend on investor confidence in the available geological data, the transparency of the licensing framework and the commercial terms offered.
Although the seismic datasets provide a foundation for evaluating exploration prospects, deepwater drilling carries significant geological and financial risks.
Further exploration and drilling will ultimately determine whether the available acreage can deliver commercially viable oil and gas discoveries.
