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Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) announced on Monday that has signed a final agreement with Trasta Energy, apart of UAE-based Al Ghurair Group, ending their partnership in Libyan Emirates Oil Refining Company (LERCO), the operator of the Ras Lanuf Refinery.
The agreement, signed in the presence of NOC Chairman Masoud Suleman, concludes more than a decade of international legal and arbitration disputes linked to the project.
NOC said in a statement that the agreement officially ends the foreign partnership in LERCO and clears the way for restructuring and operation of the Ras Lanuf complex under full Libyan management.
Under the agreement, all shares held by Trasta Energy will be transferred to NOC.
Suleman said NOC will focus on revitalising the Ras Lanuf complex and restoring its role as a major regional refining and petrochemicals hub.
Previous press statements posted by NOC said Ras Lanuf Oil and Gas Processing Company resumed operations of the second production line at its polyethylene plant in January 2025, after more than 12 years of inactivity. In September 2025, the company also began restarting its ethylene plant following completion of extensive maintenance works carried out by Libyan technical teams. The steam cracker commenced operations in May 2023. The wider industrial complex restart programme began in 2019.
Located around 600 kilometres east of Tripoli on Libya’s northeastern coast, the Ras Lanuf complex has refining capacity of approximately 220,000 barrels per day (bpd), and includes petrochemical facilities, storage and export terminals, according to a related report by Chinese state-owned news wire Xinhua on Monday.
LERCO had originally been established as a joint venture between NOC and Trasta in 2009 to operate and develop the complex, but operations were disrupted following the 2011 overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi and subsequent force majeure declarations and arbitration disputes.
(Writing by SA Kader; Editing by Anoop Menon)
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