NATIONAL OIL CORPORATION (LIBYA)

the state oil holdings of libya.

In 1970, the government of Libya enacted Law 24, reorganizing its oil holdings as the Libyan National Petroleum Corporation, now the National Oil Corporation (NOC). This law directed future foreign investment in Libyan oil to be organized as a partnership with NOC. It also transferred to NOC concessions relinquished by foreign oil companies and oil properties acquired by nationalization. By September 1973, NOC owned a minimum of 51 percent of every oil operation in Libya.

Since then, NOC has expanded its operations, negotiating directly with foreign oil companies to set up new joint ventures. In response to the imposition of economic sanctions by the United States in 1986, NOC devised model exploration and production-sharing agreements (EPSAs) featuring terms highly favorable to foreign partners. These model EPSA contracts have allowed NOC to continue to attract new partners based outside the United States, despite the additional risks to foreign investors that U.S. and UN economic sanctions against Libya impose. Today NOC operates refineries, a petrochemical complex, and a tanker fleet.

Bibliography

Middle East Economic Survey. Nicosia, Cyprus: Middle East Petroleum and Economic Publications, 1957–.

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. OPEC National Oil Company Profiles. Vienna: Author, 1981.

mary ann tÉtreault