By Festus Poquie
When President Joseph Boakai announced in September that Liberia had awarded exploratory rights for four offshore blocks to Atlas/Oranto Petroleum International Ltd., the decision was cast as a milestone for the country’s long teased hydrocarbon potential.
Barely four months later, the move has exposed a knot of geopolitical and governance risks: the beneficiary is a Nigerian firm controlled by businessman Arthur Eze, a figure who publicly courted Venezuela’s detained President Nicolás Maduro when the latter fought international isolation.
Atlas/Oranto was granted production sharing and exploration contracts for Blocks LB15, LB16, LB22 and LB24 in the Liberian Basin. Liberian officials say the deals include a signature bonus in the range of US$15–16 million and envisage roughly US$200 million of investment per block should exploratory work advance into development. Lawmakers approved the arrangements in late December 2025.
The awards sidelined longstanding U.S. and international energy interests. ExxonMobil had applied in April 2023 to prequalify for the same blocks under Liberia’s direct negotiation framework, an Exxon spokesperson told reporters, saying only that the company “filed a prequalification application with the Liberia Petroleum Regulatory Authority” and that it generally does not comment on commercial strategy.
Exxon previously operated in Liberia and drilled the Mesurado 1 well in 2016; the well was plugged, and the company relinquished its Liberian interests in 2017.
Eze’s recent public alignment with Maduro — who has been the target of successive U.S. Treasury sanctions since 2017 has generated particular concern among activists and politicians.
Venezuelan state media in August 2024, reported a signing ceremony at the Miraflores Palace in which Veneoranto, a subunit of Otanto and state oil company PDVSA agreed to carry out technical economic feasibility studies on two offshore gas prospects, the Barracuda and Boca de Serpiente areas. Venezuelan officials said the two fields together could hold as much as 30 trillion cubic feet of gas.
At that event, Arthur Eze was quoted urging Maduro to “continue fighting as Hugo Chávez did,” comments activists have since cited as evidence of deep political ties between Eze and the disgraced Venezuelan leader that’s facing multiple charges including narco terrorism in US.
Maduro celebrated the agreements and said they signaled renewed opportunities for foreign partners in Venezuela’s energy sector.
The Venezuela deals highlight a legal and diplomatic complication for Atlas/Oranto’s Liberia entry: since 2017, and with intensified measures reimposed after a temporary waiver, the U.S. Treasury has used sanctions, export controls and the threat of secondary sanctions to limit commercial ties that could benefit the Maduro government or PDVSA.
It is not publicly known whether Atlas/Oranto or its Venezuelan unit sought or received authorization from the Treasury Department for their dealings with PDVSA.
In previous offshore projects involving foreign oil majors and the Maduro administration, counterparties sought U.S. licenses and faced strict conditions aimed at preventing direct cash flows to Caracas.
Liberian civil society groups and some lawmakers have urged caution. Activists say Eze’s engagement with Maduro and his growing footprint in Liberia’s nascent oil industry risk damaging the country’s diplomatic and economic ties with Washington and may undermine transparency in a sector that has long drawn scrutiny.
Government officials have defended the move as an opportunity to jumpstart exploration in a basin that, until now, has produced little. The Paris ceremony and the terms announced by Monrovia framed the awards as a commercial transaction designed to attract investment and technical work to confirm Liberia’s offshore potential.
Analysts say the practical consequences of the deal will hinge on few factors: whether Atlas/Oranto can secure the technical and financial capacity to carry out the planned seismic and drilling programs, whether any dealings with Venezuela’s state oil company expose the firm or Liberia to secondary sanctions risk.
