Business

Argus Media: China’s Brightoil focuses on upstream operations

Brightoil now hopes to focus on its upstream operations and plans to apply for a new share listing in Shanghai after the restructuring programme is completed.

Published

6 years ago

October 26, 2020

Admin

Karen Teo of global energy and commodity price reporting agency Argus Media on Thursday (22 October) published a summary of Brightoil’s strategies to list in Shanghai following its shares being cancelled on the Hong Kong stock exchange on 20 October:

Struggling Chinese private-sector firm Brightoil is hoping to focus on its upstream operations and list in Shanghai after its Hong Kong shares were delisted this week.

The company’s shares had been suspended from trading since October 2017, pending the release of its results. It announced asset sale plans in 2018 in an attempt to “bolster its financial strength”.

Brightoil has since sold most of its assets, including its entire very large crude carrier (VLCC) fleet, to repay its outstanding debt. Chinese port operator Landbridge took over Brightoil’s top spot as China’s biggest VLCC fleet operator in August last year.

Brightoil is now preparing to dispose of its interests in a crude terminal and storage facilities at the developing trading hub of Zhoushan on China’s east coast. The company has signed an initial agreement to sell the assets to an unnamed state-owned Chinese firm under a debt restructuring scheme.

Construction of the Zhoushan assets is around 80% complete, and Brightoil may carry out the remaining work after the sale. The Zhoushan storage operations comprise 19.9mn bl of crude and storage facilities and a crude terminal that includes a 2mn bl VLCC berth at Ningbo-Zhoushan port on Waidiao island. Brightoil earlier obtained land rights to build more storage at Dalian in northeast China, but work has not yet begun and is unlikely to do so.

The company is likely to hold on to its upstream assets, which are harder to divest because of commitments through its production-sharing contracts.

Brightoil has stakes of 40.1% and 29.2% in blocks 04/36 and 05/36 respectively at the Caofeidian offshore oil project in the Bohai bay, in partnership with state-owned CNOOC. It also operates the Dina 1 and Tuzi gas fields in Xinjiang, holding 49% stakes with state-owned CN% owning the remainder. Production at the Caofeidian project averaged 47,000 b/d in January-June this year, while combined output at Dina 1 and Tuzi averaged 3.4mn mᶾ/d as of the end of June.

Brightoil now plans to apply for a new share listing in Shanghai after the restructuring programme is completed, potentially next year. It is unclear how it will be able to expand its asset base beyond its current upstream business, which it says has been profitable largely because of low production costs.

Brightoil received a lifeline from state-owned China Huarong Overseas Investment, a unit of China Huarong Asset Management, which stepped in to restructure some $362mn of its debt and provided $35mn in additional loans to repay existing debt and increase liquidity, the company said in July.

Photo credit and source: Argus Media
Published: 26 October, 2020

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

7 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

7 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

8 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