Senegal Terminates Oranto Petroleum License as Liberia Ratifies Controversial Deal
Senegal has kicked out Nigerian oil firm Oranto Petroleum from the Cayar Offshore Shallow block after years of inactivity and repeated failures to meet basic financial obligations, delivering an extraordinary regulatory rebuke that now collides with Liberia’s recent ratification of Oranto’s new Production Sharing Contracts for four offshore blocks.
Senegal’s Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, under Minister Birame Souleye Diop, formally withdrew Oranto’s license in September 2025 after multiple unfulfilled demands for bank guarantees to support the work program under the contract. The block, awarded in 2008, saw little to no meaningful exploration. The Senegalese government has since taken back control of the acreage, framing the decision as part of a broader shift toward stricter enforcement and more rigorous screening of petroleum rights holders under President Bassirou Diomaye Faye’s administration.
According to government statements, Senegal acted after Oranto failed to provide financial guarantees required by the contract despite repeated formal requests. The ministry’s assessment examined compliance with core obligations including financial capacity, execution of the work program, and respect for timelines. In Dakar’s view, failure to meet those obligations was enough to trigger the state’s right to revert the block under Senegal’s petroleum governance framework.
Meanwhile, in Liberia, lawmakers recently brushed aside fierce objections and ratified Oranto’s new Production Sharing Contracts for four offshore blocks. The Liberian Legislature approved multiple major concession instruments in late 2025, including Production Sharing Contracts involving Oranto Petroleum Liberia Limited and TotalEnergies. Critics argued that the Oranto contract was riddled with red flags including concerns about capacity, diluted financial terms, legal inconsistencies, and the risk of repeating Liberia’s painful history of speculative resource deals.
Despite weeks of pushback and public debate, the House of Representatives passed an omnibus instrument bundling the Oranto deal with the widely supported TotalEnergies agreement, an approach some lawmakers described as a tactic to secure passage for a controversial measure by attaching it to a popular one. The Senate later concurred by a two-thirds majority, with 20 senators voting in favor of the Oranto instrument.
Nimba County Representative Musa Hassan Bility was among those who objected, saying he would have supported the TotalEnergies agreement if it had been brought separately, but opposed the combined vote because the Oranto component lacked justification and logic. His core allegation was that Oranto has no clear exploration plan and operates on a model of acquiring blocks and flipping them for profit rather than drilling, developing, and producing value inside the host country.
Gbarpolu County Senator Amara Konneh, one of the most vocal critics, warned that ratifying Oranto sends a dangerous message to the global energy industry. “This decision tells the world that in Liberia, paper guarantees can substitute for proven technical performance in acquiring petroleum rights,” Konneh argued, noting that the government leaned on a financial guarantee from Atlas Petroleum to underwrite Oranto’s obligations.
Konneh also raised alarms about the signature bonus structure and exploration timeline. The agreement advertises a $15 million signature bonus for four blocks, but only $5 million is due within four months of ratification, with the remaining $10 million tied to future milestones that could stretch payments across multiple years. Even more controversial, Konneh asserted the agreement grants Oranto a 10-year exploration period, despite what he described as a statutory seven-year limit under Liberia’s Petroleum Law.
Former House Speaker Cllr. J. Fonati Koffa framed the deal as part of a wider betrayal of Liberia’s laws and citizens. In a widely discussed Facebook post, Koffa argued that the agreement violates the intent of Liberia’s 2019 Petroleum Law, which he says mandates direct citizen participation with 5 percent equity for Liberians in each block and the National Oil Company of Liberia holding 10 percent on behalf of the state. Koffa’s allegation is that the Oranto agreement consolidates the full 15 percent equity under NOCAL, effectively sidelining citizens from direct ownership.
Oranto, a privately owned Nigerian oil and gas exploration firm owned by businessman Arthur Eze, has operated across Africa largely as an early-stage player, often securing acreage and seeking partners for expensive drilling and development phases. The contrasting approaches by Senegal and Liberia highlight diverging regulatory philosophies, with Dakar tightening petroleum governance and reclaiming acreage from companies it says cannot deliver, while Monrovia has handed Oranto a fresh foothold despite longstanding controversy over the firm’s track record and legal compliance.
Source: liberianinvestigator.com
