Business

Singapore Senior Minister welcomes Total new regional headquarters

Singapore has to date supplied LNG fuel to 170 vessels using tanker trucks, notes Teo Chee Hean in speech.

Published

7 years ago

December 9, 2019

Admin

Senior Minster and Coordinating Minister for National Security Teo Chee Hean gave a speech at the inauguration of Total’s new regional headquarters at Frasers Tower on Monday (9 December) morning.

“Total and Singapore have enjoyed a strong partnership for 37 years. In 1982, the company established its presence in Singapore with its oil trading, sales and marketing operations for lubricant products,” he said.

“Since then, Total has steadily expanded its Singapore operations. Today, Singapore is Total’s strategic hub in the Asia Pacific, and is pivotal in driving business growth and innovation as well as talent development in Singapore and Asia Pacific.

“In 2015, I opened Total’s new lubricants blending plant at Singapore Lube Park in Tuas, which is also Total’s largest lubricants blending plant in the world. The plant doubled Total’s lubricant production in Singapore and boosted regional capacity by 30%.

“Today, we mark yet another milestone of Total’s partnership with Singapore – the opening of Total’s regional headquarters here at Frasers Tower. The new premises occupy six floors with more than 125,000 square feet – an increase of 65% from its old premises.

“Total now has more than 600 employees in Singapore, with 500 employees in this regional HQ and around 130 employees at the Tuas lubricant plant. This opening is a testament to Total’s significant growth in Singapore and its commitment to our partnership.”

Senior Minister Teo noted Singapore to be also one of the first movers in providing liquefied natural gas (LNG) as an alternative to High Sulphur Fuel Oil for bunkering fuel for ships, to meet the International Maritime Organisation (IMO)’s regulation to reduce the global Sulphur limit for marine fuel from the current 3.5% to 0.5% from January 2020.

“To date, Singapore has supplied LNG to 170 vessels using tanker trucks. With our first LNG bunker vessel slated for arrival in the third quarter of 2020, we will be able to cater to large vessels that require LNG as a marine fuel,” he notes.

“I am glad that Total, the second largest LNG producer in the world, will be leveraging the Singapore regional headquarters to manage its LNG business in the region.

“Recent examples are Total’s partnership with Singapore’s Pavillion Energy to build up the LNG bunkering eco-system, and with the Adani Group to supply and market LNG in India.”

Total Marine Fuels Global Solutions (TMFGS) in early December entered a LNG bunkering agreement with CMA CGM for the supply of approximately 270,000 metric tonnes (mt) per year of LNG bunker fuel for over 10 years. The arrangement includes a complementary bunkering solution in Singapore.

Published: 9 December, 2019

Legal

Singapore withdraws remaining 127 charges against Hin Leong founder OK Lim

Lim Oon Kuin, also known as OK Lim, was issued a stern warning and a district court granted him a discharge amounting to an acquittal for these charges on 17 July.

Published

15 hours ago

July 21, 2026

Admin

Founder of collapsed oil trader Hin Leong Trading, Lim Oon Kuin, also known as OK Lim, has had the remaining 127 charges against him withdrawn, according to The Straits Times on Monday (20 July).

OK Lim was issued a stern warning and a district court granted him a discharge amounting to an acquittal for these charges, including those for cheating, on 17 July. The discharge means Lim cannot be prosecuted again for the same offences.

Lim, 84, is currently serving a 13½-year prison sentence after the High Court reduced his original 17½-year jail term in March 2026. He was convicted in 2024 on two cheating charges and one count of abetting forgery in a case prosecutors described as one of Singapore’s most serious trade finance frauds.

Lim was convicted in May 2024 of two charges of cheating the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) and one count of abetting forgery that proceeded to trial out of a total of 130 criminal charges.

He was first charged in court on 14 August 2020, and was subsequently handed further charges in court on 25 September 2020, 30 April 2021 and 24 June 2021 for his role in perpetuating fraud on various financial institutions.

A total of 130 charges were eventually brought against him for cheating and forgery-related offences.

Photo credit: Sora Shimazaki
Published: 21 July, 2026

Winding up

Singapore: Coastal Logistics Pte Ltd to be wound up voluntarily

Coastal Logistics was reportedly affiliated with troubled Singapore bunker player Coastal Oil (Singapore) Pte Ltd.

Published

15 hours ago

July 21, 2026

Admin

Several resolutions for Coastal Logistics Pte Ltd were made during an extraordinary general meeting held on 14 July, according to a notice in the Government Gazette on Friday (4 July).

The following resolutions were duly passed during the meeting:

As Special Resolution

That it has been proved to the satisfaction of the meeting that the Company cannot by reason of its liabilities continue its business and accordingly the Company be wound up voluntarily pursuant to Section 160(1)(b) of the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018 (No. 40 of 2018);

As Ordinary Resolutions

that Mr. Wong Pheng Cheong Martin and Ms. Koay May Yee, both care of FTI Consulting (Singapore) Pte Ltd, One Raffles Quay, #27-10 South Tower, Singapore 048583 be appointed as the joint and several Liquidators of the Company for the purpose of such winding up; and
that the Liquidators be at liberty to open, maintain and operate any bank account(s) or account(s) for monies received by them as Liquidators with such bank(s) as they deem fit; and
that a Committee of Inspection will not be formed.

Manifold Times previously reported Nicholas James Gronow, director of Heng Tong Fuels & Shipping and Coastal Logistics, filed statutory declarations for both companies stating the firms cannot continue their businesses due to liabilities.

Both companies were reportedly affiliated with troubled Singapore bunker player Coastal Oil (Singapore) Pte Ltd.

In 2019, several vessels owned by both firms entered the sale & purchase (S&P) market in Singapore.

Photo credit: Drew Beamer
Published: 21 July, 2026

LNG Bunkering

PIL’s LNG dual-fuel boxship “Kota Elok” arrives in Singapore on maiden call

As the first of 13 new 13,000 TEU vessels joining its fleet, Kota Elok is equipped to operate on LNG and low-sulphur fuel oil that helps reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.

Published

16 hours ago

July 21, 2026

Admin

PIL's LNG dual-fuel boxship “Kota Elok” arrives in Singapore on maiden call

Singapore-based Pacific International Lines Pte Ltd on Monday (20 July) said its first 13,000 TEU LNG dual-fuel container vessel, Kota Elok, recently made her maiden call to Singapore on 15 July.

As the first of 13 new 13,000 TEU vessels joining its fleet, Kota Elok is equipped to operate on liquefied natural gas (LNG) and low-sulphur fuel oil that helps reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.

The vessel also incorporated energy-saving features and digital technologies to reduce fuel consumption and enhance operational performance, as well as a bow windshield to improve aerodynamics, contributing to improved fuel efficiency and lower emissions over the course of long-haul voyages.

“Following Singapore, Kota Elok will continue her voyage on our East Coast Service 1 (ES1) route to South America, calling at ports in Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina before returning to Asia,” the company said in a social media post.

Kota Elok also became PIL’s first vessel to receive Lloyd’s Register certification for compliance with the IACS UR E26 and UR E27 cyber security requirements.

Developed by the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS), UR E26 and UR E27 are mandatory cyber resilience requirements for newbuild vessels contracted from 1 July 2024.

Photo credit: Pacific International Lines
Published: 21 July, 2026