Four more Singapore bunker firms file claims against OW Bunker

Golden Island Diesel Oil Trading, Bunker House Petroleum, Equatorial Marine Fuel Management Services and Panoil Petroleum have filed claims against OW Bunker or one of its subsidiaries, according to court documents obtained by Reuters.

The legal actions by the four bunker companies came after Hin Leong issued a writ of summons through its lawyer against OW Bunker for about $1.3m worth of bunker fuel delivered to vessel Laguna at Universal Terminal in early November.

Denmark’s OW Bunker declared bankruptcy last Friday after uncovering an alleged $125m fraud at its Singapore-based Dynamic Oil Trading, on top of a $150m risk management loss.

The court documents showed that the overall claims made against OW Bunker Far East (Singapore) and Dynamic Oil Trading over unpaid supplies now total around SGD5.3m made by the five Singapore companies.

Simon Neo, executive director of Piroj International, believed that more claims will follow due to OW Bunker’s international trading presence.

“OW Bunker is a worldwide trader and they are not just based in Singapore. Almost anywhere in the world where there is a bunkering port, there is a likelihood that they will face claims by the suppliers,” Neo told Seatrade Global.

Despite the ripple effect down to the physical bunker suppliers, the impact of bankruptcies across other suppliers in Singapore is unlikely to happen, he added.