The National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL), in partnership with Houston-based geoscience expert Karen Carlson, has successfully concluded a two-day high-level technical workshop aimed at advancing Liberia’s petroleum exploration and revitalizing its upstream oil and gas sector.
Held from January 14 to 15, 2026, the workshop brought together key government institutions and energy-sector stakeholders to assess Liberia’s offshore petroleum potential, review existing geological data, and identify new opportunities for sustainable hydrocarbon development, with particular emphasis on shallow-water acreages.
Opening the workshop, NOCAL Board Chairperson, Cllr. Gloria Maya Musu-Scott, and NOCAL President and Chief Executive Officer, Fabian Michael Lai, underscored the importance of collaboration, innovation, and data-driven decision-making in repositioning Liberia as an attractive destination for petroleum investment.
They urged participants to actively contribute to strengthening Liberia’s technical narrative and enhancing its competitiveness in the global energy market.
The workshop was led by Ms. Karen Carlson, a renowned American geoscientist with more than five decades of experience in petroleum geology and subsurface exploration.
Ms. Carlson has held senior technical roles at major international energy companies, including Marathon Oil and Chevron, where she contributed to exploration planning, geological assessment, and prospect development across multiple global basins.
Currently serving as a Geoscience Advisor at KC Geoscience Consulting LLC in Houston, Texas, Ms. Carlson brings extensive expertise in petroleum systems analysis, seismic interpretation, structural geology, and exploration strategy, particularly in frontier and underexplored basins.
Discussions during the workshop centered on developing a clear technical and commercial framework to enhance Liberia’s shallow-water exploration prospects. Key topics included the country’s rift systems, data availability and quality, onshore and offshore exploration opportunities, and the application of modern interpretation techniques to legacy datasets to identify new prospects.
Day One featured in-depth technical presentations and interactive discussions involving geoscientists, petroleum engineers, and specialists from several government agencies, including the Liberia Petroleum Regulatory Authority (LPRA), Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME), Liberia Petroleum Refining Company (LPRC), National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority (NaFAA), Liberia Maritime Authority (LiMA), and the University of Liberia (UL), among others.
The broad participation ensured a coordinated, multi-agency approach to understanding Liberia’s nearshore petroleum potential.
Day Two focused on strategic alignment and future planning, with sessions involving NOCAL’s Board of Directors, Executive Management, and Geoscience Team.
Participants reviewed technical findings and discussed measures to strengthen institutional readiness and effectively promote Liberia’s shallow-water prospects to potential investors.
As part of her engagement, Ms. Carlson visited the Liberia Geological Survey in Old Road and the site of reported hydrocarbon seeps in Beon, Grand Bassa County. She noted that Liberia possesses significant untapped hydrocarbon potential that could be unlocked through improved access to data, re-evaluation of historical well information, and the use of modern exploration technologies.
Ms. Carlson further emphasized that revisiting existing datasets with advanced analytical tools could yield new discoveries at relatively low cost, with the potential to increase national revenue, enhance energy security, and support Liberia’s long-term development objectives.
Overall, the workshop served as a vital platform for knowledge sharing, technical validation, and strategic collaboration, reinforcing NOCAL’s commitment to positioning Liberia as a competitive and investment-ready petroleum province.
