Liberia: Senate Passes Bill to Reform Petroleum Sector

19 March 2026
Liberian Observer (Monrovia)

The Liberian Senate has passed a landmark bill aimed at reshaping the country's petroleum sector.

The bill, introduced by Montserrado County Senator Abraham Darius Dillon, seeks to establish a new legal framework for the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company (LPRC) and repeal the 1989 Acts granting it exclusive rights over petroleum regulation, importation, storage, and distribution.

The passage of the bill followed a report from the Joint Committee comprising Judiciary, Human Rights, Claims & Petition, Public Corporations, Ways, Means, Finance & Budget and Hydrocarbon, Energy and Environment.

The enactment of the law came as the result of weeks of rigorous scrutiny, consultations, and deliberations by the Joint Committee, which was tasked with examining the implications of maintaining or reforming LPRC's long-standing monopoly over the importation, storage, distribution, and commercialization of petroleum products across Liberia.

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The 1989 Act establishing LPRC, granted the state-owned enterprise sweeping authority to regulate and control petroleum products nationwide.

However, over the years, concerns have mounted regarding inefficiencies, limited competition, pricing challenges, and regulatory overlaps within the sector.

Accordingly, Stakeholders including private importers, consumer advocacy groups, and international partners, have increasingly called for reforms to liberalize the market and strengthen regulatory oversight.

Presenting the Joint Committee's report to plenary, the Chairperson, Cllr. Senator Augustine S. Chea, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights, Claims and Petition, emphasized that the bill is intended to modernize Liberia's petroleum governance structure in line with global best practices.

According to the Chairman of the Joint Committee, the bill seeks to separate regulatory functions from commercial operations, promote private sector participation, and ensure accountability in the management of petroleum resources.

The newly passed bill introduces sweeping reforms, including, removal of monopoly powers, the repeal of provisions granting LPRC exclusive rights to import and distribute petroleum products, as well as opening the sector to license private operators.

Meanwhile, LPRC will transition from being both regulator and operator to primarily a commercial entity, focusing on infrastructure management such as storage facilities and terminals, to strengthening regulatory oversight, enhancing roles for relevant regulatory bodies to ensure compliance, pricing transparency, environmental protection, and consumer safety.

The bill, when passed into law, will now grant LPRC a statutory authority, undoing its creation by an Article of Incorporation in 1978 and subjecting its board members, Managing Director and two deputies to Senate's confirmation.

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