DMEA: NOC wins arbitration case

Libya’s National Oil Corp. (NOC) has won an arbitration against the UAE’s Trasta Energy, winning an appeal from a request filed in February 2022 to the Paris Court of Appeal.

Africa Intelligence reported that the lawsuit was filed over questions about the control of Libya’s 220,000 barrel per day (bpd) Ras Lanuf refinery, located in the Gulf of Sirte. The lawyer representing NOC was quoted in the Libyan press as saying that outcome was favourable, as it was the result of an appeal to a past sentence which allegedly favoured the UAE. The appealed ruling will however require Trasta Energy to terminate its current joint venture (JV) with NOC, transferring its 50% share of the Libyan Emirates Oil Refining Co. (LERCO) to the state firm. The ruling also states that Trasta Energy will relinquish control of the Ras Lanuf refinery.

In March 2021, a Paris court of appeal had upheld an arbitration ruling against LERCO pertaining to the closure of Ras Lanuf in 2013.

LERCO, which is a joint venture between NOC and a subsidiary of the UAE’s Al Ghurair Group, is the operator of the refinery. The appeal relates to an arbitration ruling in 2018 relating to a complex dispute between the parties that led to the refinery being closed.