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Brightoil’s last VLCC faces auction

Brightoil Gem 1
The last very large crude carrier (VLCC) owned by Hong Kong-based Brightoil, Brightoil Gem, is to be auctioned via Chinese online platform Taobao.

The auction of the VLCC is being held at the request of the vessel owner’s creditor BNP Paribas.

The Brightoil Gem was arrested by China’s Haikou Maritime Court in March this year due to an alleged failure to repay loans of $40m.

The asking price for the vessel starts from RMB390m ($55m) and the auction will be launched on 19 November. The 300,000 dwt VLCC Brightoil GEM, built in 2013 and registered in Hong Kong.

Brightoil was one of the largest marine bunkering service providers in China with services expanded to global ports. The company was declared bankrupt by the High Court of Hong Kong in April.

Currently, Brightoil’s Singapore office, the group’s regional headquarters, is undergoing debt restructuring, and its fleet of bunker barges has also been arrested in Singapore.

Read More: Another Brightoil VLCC detained in China