sierra leone oil

Top News Chevron Corp to explore oil offshore Sierra Leone Wed, Sep 26 09:35 AM EDT (Reuters) - Chevron Corp ( CVX.N ) said its unit wouldexplore for oil in two deepwater blocks located offshore Sierra Leone. Oil exploration has been booming in West Africa but it is still unclear whether Sierra Leone, still recovering from a war thatended in 2002, has commercial quantities. The two blocks, SL-08A and SL-08B, are located between 75 and 110 miles southwest Sierra Leone's capital Freetown and covera combined area of about 2,100 square miles. The blocks have average water depths ranging from 4,900 to 9,800 feet. Chevron will be the operator with a 55 percentinterest, while Noble Energy ( NBL.N ) will hold a30 percent and Odye Ltd a 15 percent stake. Sierra Leone provisionally awarded contracts to 11 companies in July. (Reporting by Swetha Gopinath in Bangalore; Editing by Joyjeet Das