Liberia’s Minister of Mines and Energy has commissioned fresh exploration activities in the country’s onshore oil basin to resolve uncertainty about the likely occurrence of hydrocarbon feature in a region in Grand Bassa County that experienced leakage of liquid substance from the ground in late 2025.
This follows the inconclusive outcomes of studies conducted over a five-month period to determine the commercial viability of hydrocarbon seep that emerged along the Robert, basin approximately 7.6 miles inland southwest from the coastline.
Mantenokay Tingban said the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL) will lead advanced geochemical fingerprinting and subsurface assessments, with findings to be submitted to regulators and ultimately the President.
“Any future action will be guided strictly by science, transparency, and responsible resource management,” he said.
The Minister told Lawmakers previously this week that samples tested by internationally accredited laboratories in Africa and Europe — including Ghana and the Czech Republic — all concluded the substance lacked the hallmarks of crude oil.
“These tests found that the sample lacked the physical and chemical characteristics of naturally occurring crude oil,” Tingban said.
NOCAL officials disagreed with the interpretation, arguing the samples may represent heavily biodegraded crude oil whose properties were obscured by contamination. They insisted the material does not resemble refined petroleum products and has demanded deeper geochemical and geological probes.
In December, NOCAL said their preliminary assessments confirmed that the reported seep area in Nevren Tan aligns with the structural and stratigraphic characteristics of the Roberts–Bassa Basin.
Historical reconnaissance studies such as airborne gravity and magnetic surveys conducted in 2010 by Simba Energy, the only onshore reconnaissance license holder at the time identified oil seep occurrences indicating that the Roberts–Bassa Basin may have potential for commercially viable hydrocarbons.
The U.S. Geological Survey estimates some 3.2 billion barrels of oil and gas in the wider West African Coastal Province that includes Liberian waters.
African Petroleum came close to oil discovery in 2012. In December 2016, Liberia’s brief moment of oil optimism ground to a halt when a well drilled by a local ExxonMobil unit came up dry — the ninth abandonment since 2010.
