According to a Reuters report, Singapore has suspended the supply licences of Hin Leong shipping fuel unit.
Licences cancelled
The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said that it has suspended licences held by a subsidiary of defunct oil trader Hin Leong Trading Pte Ltd to sell ship fuel. It was reported that the subsidiary company could no longer meet the licensing requirements.
The MPA suspended Hin Leong’s subsidiary Ocean Bunkering Services Pte Ltd (OBS) licences.
Reason for MPA’s decision
MPA typically issues licences to supply bunker, or ship, fuel to vessels and to operate barges to transport the fuel to the ships.
“Given that OBS has stopped its bunkering operations since April this year and has not been able to fulfil its licensing commitment to date, MPA has suspended their bunkering licences until further notice,” MPA said.
The agency did not specify the exact date the licences were suspended.
MPA’s website data
In 2019, OBS was the third-largest bunker fuel supplier by volume in Singapore, which is the world’s biggest bunkering hub with about 50 million tonnes of annual sales volumes.
Hin Leong’s other bunker supply unit, Hin Leong Marine International Pte Ltd, was still listed as a licensed bunkering supplier while OBS’s licences were listed as suspended, the latest data on the MPA’s website as of Oct. 9 showed.
Message to customers
Announcement in April
OBS informed customers in April it would suspend marine fuel deliveries. This announcement came after lenders pulled credit lines to Hin Leong. The credit lines at the time owed creditors $3.85 billion, amid allegations of fraud and losses on oil trades as prices dropped because of the spread of the coronavirus.
Sale notice in October
At the start of October, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Hin Leong’s court-appointed judicial managers, placed a notice in local media for the sale of an “independent bunker fuel and lubricant supplier in Singapore.”
Fleet OBS owns
OBS owns a fleet of 14 bunker barges licensed by the MPA, according to the company’s website. It supplied about 3 million to 4 million tonnes of bunker fuel in 2019, according to estimates by industry sources.
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Source: Reuters
