Kuwait’s Al-Kharafi Group has secured a major legal victory in France, allowing it to pursue the seizure of assets belonging to Libya’s state-owned National Oil Corporation (NOC) to recover a compensation award now valued at $960.2 million.
The Paris Court of Justice rejected Libya’s latest appeal against enforcement measures targeting NOC assets in France. The ruling allows Al-Kharafi to continue pursuing the NOC’s interests in joint ventures with French energy company TotalEnergies. The dispute dates back to 2006, when Al-Kharafi signed an agreement with Libya’s tourism authority to develop a five-star resort complex east of Tripoli under a 90-year lease, news agencies reports.
The planned development included apartments, a commercial center and restaurants, with construction estimated to cost about $130 million. The project was later disrupted after several Libyan public bodies claimed ownership of the land. Al-Kharafi was offered an alternative site but declined, and Libya terminated the construction license in 2010.
Al-Kharafi subsequently took the dispute to arbitration and was awarded $900 million in 2013 in compensation for expected profits from the investment over the lease period. The Kuwaiti group has since pursued Libyan state assets in France to recover the award. Earlier efforts included attempts to seize a former aircraft used by Muammar Qaddafi and assets linked to Libya’s sovereign wealth fund, but those efforts were unsuccessful.
The legal strategy shifted to the NOC after a French court ruled in 2022 that the oil company constituted an extension of the Libyan state and could therefore be subject to enforcement proceedings.
In July 2025, Al-Kharafi was authorized to pursue the NOC’s stakes in joint ventures with TotalEnergies. The latest Paris court ruling upholds that enforcement route, although Libya still has other legal avenues available. With accumulated interest, the amount claimed by Al-Kharafi has now reached $960.2 million, making the case one of the most significant long-running enforcement disputes involving Libyan state assets in France.
