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EGCI: Sierra Leone
 The U.S.
Department of State led a U.S. interagency technical team to
Freetown on September 17, 2010. The purpose of the visit was to
conduct a needs assessment for the Energy Governance and
Capacity Initiative (EGCI), which is a Department of State-led
effort to provide a range of capacity-building technical support
to the governments and institutions of selected countries that
are expected to become oil and gas producers and exporters
during the next decade. During its Freetown visit, the U.S.
team met with a range of Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL)
officials. The visit provided valuable insight into general and
specific areas in which the GoSL could build institutional
capacity that would help to strengthen its oil and gas sector
decision making, governance structure and revenue management
capability. On September 24, U.S. Department of State Special
Envoy for International Energy Affairs David Goldwyn met with
Sierra Leone’s Minister of Finance Samura Kamara and Minister of
Information and Communication
 Alhaji Kargbo on the margins of
the U.N. General Assembly in New York. On September 30, U.S.
Department of State Senior Advisor Paul Hueper met with Deputy
Energy Minister Martin Alex Bash-Kamara during his Washington,
D.C. visit. On October 8, U.S. Department of Treasury Office of
Technical Assistance Director Michael Ruffner met with Minister
of Finance Kamara in Washington, D.C. on the margins of the
World Bank/IMF meetings.
BOEMRE
Partners
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Ministry of
Mines, Mineral Resources and Political Affairs (Geological
Survey Division)
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Ministry of
Trade and Industry
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Ministry of
Energy & Water Resources |
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Ministry of
Finance and Economic Development |
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Petroleum
Resources Unit (PRU) |
Activities to Date/Planned
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December 6-7, 2010
– The
Bureau of
Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE)
hosted a delegation from Sierra Leone’s Petroleum Resources Unit in Houston at the Office of Natural Resource Revenue (December 3) and in BOEMRE’s New Orleans location. The Acting Director-General, Tomah Nhabay, Financial Controller, Karefa A. Kargbo, and Staff Geologist Raymond Kargbo were in the United States visiting Anadarko in Houston and requested consultation with BOEMRE prior to their return home. BOEMRE’s participation was funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Energy Governance and Capacity Initiative (EGCI). A variety of topics on the U.S. federal offshore oil and gas regulatory model were presented to the delegation, each followed by an enthusiastic exchange of ideas. BOEMRE learned more about the status of current leases and exploration offshore Sierra Leone and both countries established important international contacts. Topics included: Overview of regulatory processes, lease sale to decommissioning;
development, lease suspensions, premature abandonment and bypassing of economic zones, production in paying quantities, and supplemental bonding; unitization, unit suspensions, royalty relief, enhanced recovery, competitive reservoirs, compensatory royalty, and drainage from higher royalty leases; production rate control, downhole commingling of producing zones, flaring and venting of natural gas, burning of liquid hydrocarbons, and well test reports; reservoir analysis, conservation information documents, gas cap production, sensitive reservoir information, bottom hole pressure surveys, limiting reservoir or well production rates; production approval, royalty meters, allocation meters, well tests, surface commingling, coordination with ONRR; production verification, liquid verification system (LVS), gas verification system (GVS), LVS & GVS exceptions, load production data in database; seismic data regulation, permitting, and acquisition; methane hydrates; resource assessment/fair market value; Salt Project; inventory of reserves and resources; and lastly, Technical Information Management System (TIMS) and IT data structure.
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March 2011
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Conducted workshop entitled,
U.S. Experience in Managing
the Offshore Oil & Gas Sector. This workshop
provided a comprehensive overview of the responsibilities
and activities of the BOEMRE in the United States.
This course involved a detailed discussion of how issues
relevant to Sierra Leone’s offshore oil and gas sector are
handled in the United States. Topics included: tendering;
geologic and economic modeling; reviewing, authorizing, and
inspecting exploration and production infrastructure;
environmental review and compliance, and revenue management.
This workshop laid the foundation for a range of other
specialized workshops and possible in-country technical
assistance on a range of specific subjects (e.g., prospect
valuation, reservoir management, unitization, petroleum
economics, petroleum contract analysis, hydrocarbon database
management, offshore platform safety & inspections, oil
spill response planning, environmental analysis for the
offshore environment, accident investigation, platform
decommissioning, etc…). Topics covered would depend on the
GoSL’s interests, EGCI partner commitments and program
funding availability. |
Countries in
the EGCI
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