National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL)

The National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL) is an independent state-owned enterprise created by the NOCAL Act of 2000 and mandated by that Act and the Petroleum Law of 2002 to coordinate the development of Liberia’s oil sector. NOCAL is responsible for the upstream petroleum sector, while the downstream sector is under the jurisdiction of the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company (LPRC). The company's president and CEO as of October 2013 was Randolph A.K.W. McClain.

=Organization= NOCAL has six subdivisions to fulfill NOCAL's general mission, as stated on its website, to "develop Liberia’s Hydrocarbon potentials for National self-sufficiency and sustainable development." Each division has an auxiliary mandate to support the general mission:


 * Office of the president
 * Finance Division: to ensure maximization of net income
 * Administrative Division: to create and build sustainable Liberian human capacity for NOCAL
 * Technical Division: to help NOCAL become a world class oil and gas technology organization
 * Public Affairs Division: to create and sustain NOCAL’s positive public image, nationally and internationally
 * Corporate Social Relations Division: to execute interventions (including local content) with impact within the community per county, based on relative population ratio

=Reform efforts= In February 2012, NOCAL announced that it was committed to being transparent about the operations of oil companies and management of the money they are expected to generate. The following April, NOCAL reported that it had submitted its annual budget to the Liberian legislature. Also in April 2012, it announced that it would commission an independent audit of its finances for the past three years and would "open up the books and put them in order," which garnered praise from advocacy group Global Witness.

Resignation of the chairman of the board in 2013
On 17 September 2013 Robert Sirleaf, the son of Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, resigned from his position as chairman of the NOCAL board and as senior presidential adviser after an 18 month stint. According to the website Political Analysis South Africa, the resignations had long been demanded by opposition and civil society groups, with some parties alleging nepotism and accusing Robert Sirleaf of siphoning government funds from the oil sector.

But Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said in a press conference that her son had planned all along to step down from his post once needed reforms in the oil sector had been completed. In his term as chairman of the NOCAL board, Robert Sirleaf drafted new laws and guidelines to help modernize the governance of Liberia’s petroleum sector and NOCAL, according to Political Analysis South Africa. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said that Robert had successfully completed his assignment to reform the oil sector and would now become a "private citizen". As for the allegations of corruption, Robert Sirleaf has called on his critics to substantiate their claims against him. According to Heritage newspaper he said "If anybody has documentary evidence of corruption against me, let the person produce it. I am opened to audit at anytime."

=External links= Website of the National Oil Company of Liberia

=References=