Libya’s National Oil calls for Ras Lanuf refinery operations restart

Libya’s state-owned company National Oil (NOC) has called for resumption of operations at Ras Lanuf Refinery after winning arbitration brought against it in the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Court in Paris, France.

The arbitration proceedings were initiated in 2013 by the Emirati Al Ghurair Investment Group’s subsidiary Trasta Energy, and the Libyan Emirati Refining Company (Lerco).

The refinery is owned and operated by Lerco, which is a joint venture between NOC and Trasta.

NOC board chairman Mustafa Sanalla said: “NOC is the trusted guardian of Libyan oil wealth. We will make every effort to defend that wealth.

“We stress the importance of Lerco re-starting operations Ras Lanuf Oil Refinery as soon as possible.”

The ICC Tribunal hearing and the Lerco/NOC case dismissed all damage claims made by Lerco against NOC to the tune of $812m.

Based on the tribunal ruling, NOC has been awarded compensations for its counterclaims aggregating about $116m plus interest.

In November last year, the company received a favourable judgement when a separate ICC tribunal quashed Trasta’s claims totalling more than $100m in accordance to the shareholders agreement signed between the companies.

Sanalla further added: “NOC will now take all necessary steps and procedures to ensure the enforcement of the award issued in the Lerco case by the Arbitration Tribunal on 5 January 2018.

“Trasta and Lerco are requested to fully comply with the implementation of their contractual obligations.”