Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) may use the funds of the Libya Investment Authority (LIA) the country’s sovereign wealth fund to pre-empt (‘post-empt’ would be more accurate) Total’s $450mn purchase of US firm Marathon Oil’s 16.33% stake in the country’s 300,000 b/d Waha concession, reports suggest.

This comes as further evidence emerges that Marathon and Total may have sought to push the deal through before it attracted scrutiny. (CONTINUED - 1000 WORDS)