Sierra Leone has provisionally awarded contracts to 11 companies to explore for oil in eight offshore blocks, according to a government statement
It is still unclear whether Sierra Leone has commercial quantities of oil but contracts have been awarded to: Chevron Sahara, Noble Energy, Odye, African Petroleum, Kosmos Energy, Elinilto, Signet Petroleum, Minexco, Masters Energy, GNBH Sierra Leone Exploration and Vadara Petroleum and Hydrocarbons.
The government statement said that it received 59 applications for the blocks according to Reuters.
Block SL 4A-10, which was awarded to African Petroleum Corporation and Kosmos Energy, was oversubscribed while Block SL 10A-10 received no bids.
