Although rumors abounded about the existence of oil and gas potentials in Sierra Leone pre the 1980s, the history of oil and gas exploration is said to have actually commenced with two rounds of exploration in the offshore sectors of Sierra Leone and Liberia. A total of nine wells were drilled offshore in Sierra Leone and Liberia. All nine wells were plugged and abandoned with do drill stem test conducted. Both Sierra Leone wells were drilled on the inner shelf in water depths of less than 100m. The wells however penetrated a significant reservoir thickness of oil and oil/gas prone source beds. The Sierra Leone wells were drilled by MOBIL and AMOCO and named MOBIL [Mobil A1] and AMOCO [Amoco A1-2] in 1984 and 1985 respectively. The petroleum directorate which is a creature of The Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act No. 7 of 2011 has just successfully concluded the fourth offshore petroleum licensing round resulting in the evaluation of six (6) applications for offshore petroleum concessions, evaluation of same and two provisional awards to CLUFF ENERGY AFRICA and INNOSON OIL & GAS respectively.
