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The West African Power Pool is seeking expressions of interest from consultants by 9 December to carry out feasibility studies and environmental and social impact assessments for a 150MW hydropower plant on the St Paul River and the phased development of up to 90MWp of solar PV capacity.

President George Weah on 16 October signed into law the amended Petroleum Act of 2019, which aims to update the 2014 law as part of efforts to revive offshore oil and gas exploration. The law increases block sizes to a maximum of 3,500km2, from 2,000km2 previously. National Oil Company of Liberia (Nocal) is working with TGS-Nopec to re-draw the blocks. The re-sized blocks will align with the Global Grid System as mandated by the Economic Community of West African States for its members, Nocal said.

National Oil Company of Liberia (Nocal) has signed a multi-year well data management agreement with Core Laboratories Sales BV in an attempt to revive its offshore oil and gas exploration efforts. Speaking at the 1 August signing ceremony, Nocal chief executive Saifuah-Mai Gray said the agreement signalled a new era for the sector, which had been dormant for the past three years. “A key mandate of the Nocal Act involves the management of data which represents a major income stream for Nocal.

Liberia’s Rural and Renewable Energy Agency (RREA) invites sealed bids by 25 October for the design, supply and construction of the 2.5MW Kaiha 2 small hydropower plant on the Kaiha River, near Kolahun, in Lofa County. The contract is to be financed by the World Bank under the Liberia Renewable Energy Access Project. The hydropower plant is the pilot project of the World Bank scheme, which is designed to expand access to electricity in remote areas and to promote the use of renewable energy, while reducing the use of imported fuel.

The Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) and the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) have announced an $8m loan for a 2.1MW run-of-river hydropower plant in River Gee County. The project, to be developed by the Rural and Renewable Energy Agency, will benefit over 30,000 people through providing a clean, reliable and affordable source of energy to households, schools, health facilities and small businesses. The project will directly contribute to achieving the national rural electrification goal of 35% by 2030, Irena said.

The board of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) decided on 4 September to suspend Liberia for failing to publish its EITI report for the year to June 2016 by the 1 July 2018 deadline. The government had asked to extend the deadline, but the board declined, noting that the request had not been endorsed by Liberia’s multi-stakeholder group (MSG), as the group had not been reconstituted since the end of its term in October 2017.

The government of Liberia and the European Union (EU) signed a €18.5m ($21.5m) contract with Lagos-based MBH Power Ltd on 9 August to design and build 66kV overhead lines and extend the existing electricity substations around Monrovia, at Bushrod, Kru Town, Capitol, Congo Town and Paynesville.

President George Weah has ordered justice minister Frank Musa Dean to investigate the awarding of Block LB-13 to ExxonMobil following a report by Global Witness alleging that Liberian officials illegally profited from the deal. The block was awarded in 2005 to Broadway Consolidated, then held by its successor company Peppercoast Petroleum, which transferred its stake in 2011 to Canadian Overseas Petroleum Ltd (COPL).

Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) has signed a management services contract with Ireland’s ESB International, as part of the policy and institutional reforms agreed under the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact. LEC was previously run by Canada’s Manitoba Hydro International under a donor-funded five-year management contract awarded in July 2010. MHI’s contract was extended in January 2013 to December 2016, and the Canadian company oversaw the rehabilitation of the Mount Coffee hydro power plant, which was commissioned in December 2016.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) invites expressions of interest by 29 November from consulting firms to assist the Rural and Renewable Energy Agency to carry out a detailed environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) and resettlement action plan (RAP) for the 9.4MW Gbedin hydropower project on the St John River in Nimba County, as well as access roads and an associated 33kV distribution network

Canadian Overseas Petroleum Limited (COPL) has abandoned efforts to negotiate a new production-sharing contract for offshore Block LB-13, where last year’s Mesurado-1 well failed to find hydrocarbons. COPL said in September that operator ExxonMobil had decided to pull out, but that it was seeking a new contract for the block

National Oil Company of Liberia (Nocal) plans a licensing round early next year in the hope of reviving exploration activity following the new petroleum law passed in 2016. Nocal petroleum engineer Timothy Kudar Jarry told African Energy the round would focus on the Harper Basin, off the east coast running up to the Ivorian border, where he said studies showed a lot of potential.

Essel Group Middle East has signed an agreement with Bell Geospace to conduct a comprehensive airborne full tensor gravity gradiometry (FTG) survey across Simba Essel Energy’s exploration block in the Roberts-Bassa Basin.Under the contract, Bell Geospace will fly FTG surveys across 2,962km2 of the onshore coastal strip. Survey flights will take place in Q4 2017 and early 2018 to produce 3D imaging of the sub-surface geology. The company said the data would be used to plan a seismic programme.

The West African Power Pool (WAPP) General Secretariat invites expressions of interest by 2 October from consulting firms to provide technical assistance for the optimisation of the 88MW Mount Coffee hydropower plant. All four 22MW units at the refurbished plant on the Saint Paul River were synchronised with the grid in May 2017, marking the return to full operation of the run-of-river station for the first time since 1990, when it was largely destroyed during the country’s civil war.

Liberia’s Ministry of Finance and Development Planning announced on 31 July that a new transmission and distribution project worth €35.5m ($39m) has begun implementation following a meeting in Monrovia. The Monrovia Consolidation of Electricity Transmission and Distribution Project will put in place additional network infrastructure to evacuate power from the 88MW Mount Coffee hydro project to the capital.The European Union (EU) is funding the project, which will be monitored by the National Authorising Authority, which is also the contracting authority and coordinates, manages and oversees all EU projects in Liberia.