Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has promised a management shake-up at the national oil company, which is on the verge of bankruptcy after failed attempts to lease four offshore oil blocks last year.
Top executives at the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL) would “bear the penalty” for “mishandling the sector”, Sirleaf told the investigative website in an interview this week.
Oil was discovered offshore in 2012 and Liberia, a country where 84 percent of people live in extreme poverty, has looked to the sector to pay for schools, health clinics and services to lift up Liberians.
Realising production revenues from the oil finds, however, is taking far longer amid charges of mismanagement.
Several government sources said Sirleaf summoned NOCAL leaders on June 18 to explain why the company was on the verge of bankruptcy, according to the website, which reported the story as part of a Thomson Reuters Foundation project.
