Libya’s state National Oil Corporation (NOC) issued a Press Briefing today on the back of news that some of its assets abroad have been seized through a court ruling in a case in which it is not a party, but simply because this court deemed it not an independent entity but an extension of the Libyan state. The NOC said it is appealing the judgment in the final court of appeal. Here is the full statement:
’’The National Oil Corporation (NOC) has followed up on the news circulated by some media pages on social media, a large part of which is correct, related to the cases of the precautionary seizure signed by some foreign companies on the funds and shares of the corporation in France, which obliged us to clarify the following:
The NOC won three lawsuits, before the Paris Court of Appeal on March 13, 2025, all of which resulted in the cancellation of the precautionary reservations signed by three Swiss companies (Sysmed Travel, Jallouli Communications Group Easymedia, and Hopital de la Tour) with a total value of 35 million euros on the corporation’s shares in the Mabrouk Company in France and some of its bank accounts, which were based on arbitration rulings issued in its favour by the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris against the Libyan state.
On 10 November 2022, the Cypriot company Olin issued precautionary seizure orders on the funds of the National Oil Corporation with third parties in France, based on a final arbitration ruling issued in its favour against the Libyan state by the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris on 25/08/2018, which obliges the Libyan state to pay an amount of (24,373,175.70 euros), and the corporation demanded the cancellation of the seizure orders through a lawsuit it filed against Olin Company before the French judiciary, in which the Paris Court of Appeal ended on June 19, 2025 Issuing its judgment rejecting the NOC’s request to cancel the seizure on the basis that the latter is considered an extension of the Libyan state, and that its funds do not enjoy any immunity from execution, even if it is not a party to the dispute between the Libyan state and Olin Company.
Finally, the NOC has initiated the procedures of appealing the aforementioned judgment before the French Court of Cassation, in order to exhaust all levels of litigation to cancel the seizure of its assets, which is based on a judgment issued in a lawsuit in which the corporation was not a party.
