Abdulhamid Dabaiba, head of the Government of National Unity, said that the return of the Ras Lanuf refinery to full Libyan sovereignty and administration has resolved a complex issue and restored the National Oil Corporation’s (NOC) full right to manage and operate the refinery.

Dabaiba added in a post on his Facebook page that the refinery’s return came after years of international legal and arbitration disputes, calling it “a national achievement that restores one of the most important strategic assets to the Libyan state.”

He praised the efforts of the NOC, the negotiation teams, and the legal and technical staff who reached the agreement with Trasta, reiterating the government’s full support for plans to rehabilitate and operate the Ras Lanuf complex as part of the “Return to Life” project.

Agreement ends UAE partnership within LERCO

Earlier on Monday, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the NOC, Masoud Suleman, announced the signing of the final agreement between the Corporation and Trasta, which ends their partnership within LERCO after more than a decade of international legal and arbitration disputes, with the Emirati company’s shares being transferred in full to the Corporation.

Suleiman emphasized that the new agreement “officially ends the foreign partnership within LERCO and paves the way for the restructuring and operation of the Ras Lanuf complex under full Libyan management, in a move considered one of the most significant transformations in the Libyan oil sector since 2011.”