Speaking to France Inter radio today, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said that Libya’s sovereign investment fund, the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA), will not invest in the Petroplus refinery at Petit-Couronne in Normandy:
“Unfortunately, it wasn’t finalized ... It’s too bad, because the idea that a country like Libya that produces a lot of crude could have a partnership with a refinery in France was good.”
Libya’s Lana news agency had originally reported the abandonment of the deal, but there were contradictory reports from AFP saying that the fund had just signed a confidentiality agreement regarding the refinery.
France’s Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg told RTL Radio in early November that he had received a letter from the fund saying they would like to examine the possibility of investing in the refinery.
(Sources: AFP, Libyan Investment, Bloomberg)
