Sierra Leone is positioning itself to become West Africa’s next major oil and gas exploration frontier, with a crucial offshore 3D seismic survey currently underway. This marks the nation’s first such survey in over a decade, and is a pivotal step before potentially launching its next oil and gas licensing round later this year, as confirmed by a senior government official on Thursday.
The six-week seismic survey, which commenced last month, is a collaborative effort between the government’s petroleum directorate and consultancy GeoPartners. Its primary objective is to de-risk exploration activities within Sierra Leone’s promising offshore basin.
Foday Mansaray, Director-General at the Sierra Leone Petroleum Directorate, indicated that the reprocessing of the collected data is already in progress with multi-client partners, TGS. He expressed optimism for a market launch of the findings by October, paving the way for a potential licensing round.
Mansaray detailed that this upcoming sixth oil and gas auction round could offer as many as 60 offshore blocks. The previous licensing round concluded in 2023. However, he clarified that the new blocks are unlikely to encompass ultra-deep areas, which are typically reserved for direct negotiations. Sierra Leone boasts an estimated 30 billion barrels of oil equivalent recoverable offshore, a significant figure that includes the substantial Vega prospect previously identified by Anadarko, holding an estimated 3 billion barrels of recoverable oil. While previous discoveries by companies like Anadarko Petroleum and Russia’s Lukoil yielded oil, they were not in commercial quantities.
Strategically located along the Atlantic seaboard, nestled between established regional oil producers such as Ivory Coast to the south and Senegal to the north, Sierra Leone is actively working to enhance its appeal as an emerging exploration hotspot. Mansaray noted a burgeoning interest from major players, with Shell, Petrobras, Hess, and Murphy Oil having acquired licensed data from Sierra Leone over the past 18 months. Drawing parallels with the recent exploration booms in Namibia and Guyana after periods of dormancy, Mansaray exuded confidence in Sierra Leone’s prospects. “I firmly believe that Sierra Leone is on the cusp of something big and we are going to be one of the next big and successful stories,” he asserted, signaling a new era of potential prosperity for the West African nation.