Foday Mansaray, Director General of the Petroleum Directorate of Sierra Leone (PDSL), the governmental body overseeing the nation’s petroleum resources, is set to highlight burgeoning investment opportunities in oil exploration and production at African Energy Week (AEW): Invest in African Energies 2025.
Sierra Leone has recently emerged as a promising frontier market, and Mansaray’s participation underscores the PDSL’s proactive efforts to engage with global upstream operators exploring new prospects off the coast of West Africa.
Scheduled for September 29 to October 3 in Cape Town, AEW: Invest in African Energies stands as a pivotal platform for the African energy industry. As a Strategic Partner of the event, the PDSL, through Mansaray’s insights, will present comprehensive details on Sierra Leone’s investment landscape. This includes new seismic datasets, untouched exploration frontiers, and attractive strategic farm-in opportunities.
With confirmed offshore oil resources and four significant existing oil discoveries, Sierra Leone is actively working to incentivize investment across its shallow and deepwater assets. The PDSL recently announced at the Invest in African Energy (IAE) Forum in Paris – a precursor to AEW: Invest in African Energies 2025 – that a new 3D seismic data acquisition campaign will commence in June 2025. This critical program will focus on the northwestern offshore area, with operations expected to last 60 days and be finalized within six to eight months, ultimately providing a deeper understanding of the country’s offshore plays.
Concurrently, the PDSL is collaborating with global energy data and intelligence firm TGS on a separate reprocessing initiative across the southern part of the basin. This effort will leverage TGS’ advanced seismic imaging workflows to enhance depth data, offering clearer subsurface insights for potential oil and gas companies. The campaign specifically targets the Vega prospect, aiming to map it thoroughly and support future drilling activities. This comprehensive data package will encompass 7,500 km² of 3D seismic data, complemented by 16,000-line kilometers of 2D pre-stack depth migrated data, with completion anticipated before AEW: Invest in African Energies 2025.
These strategic initiatives are integral to the PDSL’s broader efforts to de-risk and reprocess offshore data in Sierra Leone. Mansaray indicated at the IAE Forum that once this de-risking process is complete, the country will be in a prime position to launch its next licensing round. Sierra Leone’s fifth licensing round concluded in September 2023, offering over 63,000 km² of highly prospective acreage across 53 blocks. Notably, Nigerian exploration firm F.A. Oil secured six offshore oil blocks and is actively seeking financial and technical partners for their exploration and development efforts. The company has also initiated a prospectivity study, which has revealed indications of up to two billion barrels of hydrocarbons in place.
Looking ahead, Sierra Leone is targeting its first well drilling in nearly a decade for 2026. The nation is also in the final stages of establishing a new National Oil Company (NOC), which will hold a 10% stake in all exploration licenses. The NOC is envisioned to play a crucial role in advancing the country’s hydrocarbon developments, with the government seeking to gain a 25-30% interest in projects, subject to negotiation.
Tomás Gerbasio, VP Commercial and Strategic Engagement at the African Energy Chamber, commented, “Sierra Leone has the potential to become a major offshore producer in West Africa. By de-risking and reprocessing data, engaging with operators and investors, and pursuing new licensing rounds, the PDSL is providing the requisite support that companies need to invest and make discoveries in Sierra Leone.”
ABJ/APA