Brightoil had earlier announced in April that due to delivery delays, the expected delivery and potential cancellation dates of the deal would be pushed back. However it now appears the deal is completely off, even though Brightoil maintains it is confident about the outlook for the marine bunkering business in Singapore.
"The outlook for marine bunkering business in Singapore is still very positive and the Company would require additional bunker barges to meet the demand in the future," Brightoil said.
It noted however, that "to optimise the existing fleet of five bunker barges operating in Singapore market and consider better utilisation of the Company's working capital, the management decided to be more conservative towards increasing of the size of the fleet at this stage".
The company will buy additional bunker barges from Shenzhen Brightoil Shipping at a more moderate pace as a result. .
Brightoil said that the termination of the vessel purchase deal will not have any material adverse impact on the existing business of the group as the 80% deposit of $67.2m with 5% interest will be fully refunded.
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