The Government of Sierra Leone through the Petroleum Directorate of Sierra Leone (PDSL) announces the extension of the Sierra Leone 5th Offshore License Round.

The deadline for the Sierra Leone 5th Offshore License Round, which was initially scheduled for Friday January 27th 2023, is now being extended until Friday September 29th 2023 at 12:00GMT. The extension will give IOCs & NOCs, many of whom have have made sizeable data purchases, time to continue their technical evaluation.

With only 8 wells drilled, 4 of which have made oil, gas and condensate discoveries, Sierra Leone offers some of the most exciting frontier opportunities in Africa. Sitting on the conjugate margin with Guyana & Surniname and sharing the same scource rock history, 2023 will be a significant year for the country and its partners.

The bid round includes a total acreage of 63,643km² (56 Graticular Offshore Blocks) and the new timeline will allow interested parties the opportunity to carefully review the existing 29,000km 2D and 11,000km² 3D multi-client data, either in Freetown or London, in order to reduce uncertainty and allow them to submit a bid for acreage offshore Sierra Leone.

Applications for the bid round is simple and the process is only 8 steps. Application and license awards can be completed within 90 working days, including prequalification, as outlined in the information package located on the PDSL website. In keeping with the Petroleum Law and its amendment, ONLY PRE-QUALIFIED companies will be invited to negotiate a Petroleum Sharing Contract (PSC).

To book a meeting or for further inquiry, please contact PDSL at foday.mansaray@pd.gov.sl or TGS at jason.robinson@tgs.com or alternatively our marketing partner AEP at sierraleone@africaenergypartners.co.uk