The Liberia Petroleum Regulatory Authority (LPRA) has opened prequalification for Liberia’s 2026 Direct Negotiation Petroleum Licensing Round. The round is scheduled to launch in the fourth quarter of this year. LPRA Director General Marilyn Logan made the announcement at Liberia Investor Day in Houston, Texas.
The qualification window is opened ahead of the round to allow companies to establish eligibility and complete internal reviews before negotiations begin. Liberia’s criteria assess technical capacity, financial capability, and demonstrated experience in offshore exploration. Once granted, prequalification remains valid for five years.
The LPRA will conduct the round through direct negotiation, allowing terms to be shaped around the specific work program a company is prepared to commit to. “Frontier exploration requires agreements that can work overtime,” Logan said, describing a framework built to accommodate companies at different stages of technical and financial readiness.
TGS- NOPEC, Core Laboratories, and KC Geoscience Consulting, Liberia’s petroleum data partners presented at the event, jointly putting Liberia’s geological potential in front of oil companies Liberia seeks partnership. The event was attended by representatives from ExxonMobil, Total Energies, GeoMark, Woodside Energy, Westlawn, EGES Energy, Westwood Global Energy Group, and Welligence Energy Analytics, among others.
Their presentations showed proven Upper and Lower Cretaceous plays as the basis of the basin’s prospectivity and showed that opportunities are not confined to deep water. “Access to data is key to unlocking prospectivity,” said TGS Business Development Manager Johnny Chigbo, citing wide-tow acquisition and long offsets as the tools behind exploration decisions in the basin.
Liberia’s previous licensing round closed with eight Production Sharing Contracts. The blocks are active today, with TotalEnergies advancing exploration programs across LB-06, LB-11, LB-17 and LB-29 and Oranto Petroleum across LB-15, LB-16, LB-22 and LB-24.
The 2026 round will be conducted on the same basis: published criteria and equal treatment of every applicant. Liberia is seeking competent partners to convert a proven petroleum system into production, under a transparent and rules-based process.
