Post #239

🇱🇷Profitable Investments Although Liberia does not have its own oil production, corruption thrives in its oil fields. 🌐 At a public hearing in the Liberian Senate, lawmakers raised a fuss over multimillion-dollar corruption in the country's oil sector. In the context of French company TotalEnergies' entry into the country's oil industry, lawmakers decided to look into its partner - Nigeria's Oranto Petroleum — and that is precisely the company at the center of the scandal. 🔸Lawmakers claim that Oranto acquired several oil blocks for US$250,000 in the late 2000s, did not conduct any drilling, and then in 2010 sold a 70% stake to Chevron for over US$200 million, with little to no benefit to the Liberian people. During the hearings, it emerged that Oranto had not been registered in Liberia for a long time. 🔸 Oranto Petroleum is owned by Arthur Eze, a Nigerian oil entrepreneur and one of the most influential private players in upstream in West and Central Africa. 🔸 Liberia opened its offshore basin after the civil war, signing eight contracts in 2004–2005 and several more in 2009, then watching activity fade as discoveries failed to materialize and companies left. Liberia is trying to restart an oil sector that has delivered more promises than oil. Senate hearings show a desire to avoid another cycle of blocks changing hands without production, though the effect has been limited so far. Devils Below