Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) advised the Liberia Petroleum Regulatory Authority (LPRA) on the creation of an innovative hybrid licensing process for allocating exploration and production rights in the West African country, known as the 2024 Liberia Direct Negotiation Round. French supermajor TotalEnergies is the first company to sign up to the new process, marking the first exploration investment in Liberia in over a decade.
Departing from the previous standard process used globally of competitive bidding, which had led to failed bid rounds, and open door negotiating, which created uncertainty for states and companies, the newly created process in Liberia featured clear timelines for prequalification and block nomination. Only companies that participated in the round were eligible to negotiate with Liberia on those terms.
As part of its work drafting the new bidding process, WFW advised the Liberian government on:
- modernising its Model Production Sharing Agreement;
- drafting invitations to negotiate and leading the negotiations with all interested companies;
- best practices regarding environmental, social and good governance issues, stakeholder management, and Good International Petroleum Industry Practice; and
- special issues of English law and guarantee matters.
The cross-border WFW Energy team that advised the LPRA was led by New York Partner Susan Maples, supported by London Corporate Associates Toby Hunt and Laura Izquierdo. London Projects Partner Joe Levin and Associate Ben Charles supported on English law matters and Paris Dispute Resolution Associate Hermine d’Hautefeuille advised on French law matters. Singapore Partner Merrick White also supported on the matter.
Susan commented: “We’re proud to have supported Liberia on this exciting opportunity, which led to TotalEnergies being the first supermajor to enter the country under this innovative process. The newly created hybrid licensing model provides both long- and short-term benefits for Liberia and has the potential to do the same for other oil- and gas-producing countries around the world. This model works not just for countries seeking exploration investment, but the energy companies that wish to invest, too. Advising Liberia on this mandate highlights WFW’s growing energy footprint in Africa.”
