Business

Brightoil faces $161 million claim from China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering

The litigation at a Zhoushan City court was among other developments highlighted in a quarterly update.

Published

7 years ago

November 4, 2019

Admin

Hong Kong-listed oil, shipping and bunkering firm Brightoil Petroleum (Holdings) Limited on Friday (1 November) issued an update on its resumption progress and business operations for the third quarter (Q3) of 2019 ended 30 September.

Among Q3 2019 developments were a USD 160.57 million litigation at the Intermediate People's Court of Zhoushan City and sharing of the company’s future business direction, on top of the updates.

Litigation of Brightoil Petroleum Storage (Zhoushan) Co., Ltd. and Shenzhen Brightoil Group Co., Ltd.

Brightoil Petroleum Storage (Zhoushan) Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Brightoil, and Shenzhen Brightoil Group Co., Ltd., a guarantor of the former’s construction contracts, have been named as defendants in a lawsuit at the Intermediate People's Court of Zhoushan City, Zhejiang Province on 16 August 2019.

China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering Co., Ltd. and China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering Co., Ltd., Third Engineering Branch are the plaintiffs of the lawsuit over disputes of construction contracts.

The plaintiffs are claiming for outstanding construction costs, interests, loss and legal costs under the termination of certain constructions contracts related the building and construction of the Zhoushan Waidiao Island Brightoil Storage and Transportation Base for an aggregate sum of approximately RMB1,130 million (USD 160.57 million).

“The Company has entrusted a Chinese law firm to represent the Company on the litigation and has obtained positive legal advice, especially in response to the unreasonable compensation request,” stated Brightoil.

“The Company will take all necessary actions to protect the Company’s rights and interests. At the same time, the Company and the Plaintiffs had already conducted several rounds of discussion in order to strive to reach a settlement of the legal action as soon as possible.”

Upstream business – the primary focus of business in the future

Brightoil, meanwhile, said its Caofeidian oilfield is expected to complete the annual production target 40 days ahead of schedule. From January to September, the crude oil output was 8.24 million barrels, or 81.1% of the annual plan.

At the same time, it notes the construction costs for the Caofeidian oilfield to be approximately RMB 2,423 million, which is approximately RMB 500 million below the approved budget of RMB 2923 million.

In Q3 2019, the daily natural gas production of the Dina 1 and Tuzi gas field was 3.14 million cubic meters. The preparatory work for Tuzi gas field booster station and Dina 1-4 new well has begun, and the booster station is expected to be completed in October 2020.

“The management expects that the upstream business will be the primary focus of the Company’s development in the future,” it states.

Resumption progress on HKSE

Brightoil noted it has switched its independent forensic accountant, replacing KPMG Services Pte. Ltd. with RSM Corporate Advisory (Hong Kong) Limited on 27 August 2019 “primarily due to geographic concerns”.

It has also appointed RSM Consulting (Hong Kong) Limited as its internal control adviser on 21 October 2019 to review the internal control policies and procedures.

The company’s auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers, has meanwhile commenced audit work on the Group’s outstanding financial results. It is expected that the preliminary results will be available in December 2019.

Yu Ming Investment Management Limited, Brightoil’s appointed financial adviser in Q3 2019, has started on formulating a plan to satisfy the Resumption Conditions and resume trading in the company’s shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

International Trading and Bunkering

Brightoil noted of “no significant amount of revenue” generated by its International Trading and Bunkering Unit in Q3 2019 due to credited being tightened by banks.

Marine Transportation

Out of the fifteen vessels in the fleet, fourteen of the arrested vessels have been sold by auction to date:

Sales by the High Court of Singapore

Ship’s Name	Sale Date	Price
Brightoil 319	2 October	SGD 6,155,000
Brightoil 326		SGD 5,955,000
Brightoil 329		SGD 6,182,000
Brightoil 639	9 October	SGD 10,005,000
Brightoil 666		SGD 10,225,800
Brightoil 688		SGD 3,933,000

Sales by the High Court of Hong Kong

Ship’s Name	Sale Date	Price
Brightoil Galaxy	21 October	USD 61,501,023.44
Brightoil League		USD 22,357,788.20
Brightoil Legend		USD 22,229,759.70
Brightoil Lucky		USD 22,363,371.30

The Brightoil Gem, the last remaining VLCC that is under arrest in China, is scheduled to be auctioned by the Haikou Maritime Court on 19-20 November 2019.

All proceeds from auction sales are expected to be used to settle the debts of Brightoil Singapore (S’pore) Pte. Ltd. BOPS and Brightoil after repayment of the vessel-related debts and liabilities, stated the company.

Potential debt restructuring and winding-up petitions

The Brightoil Petroleum (S’pore) Pte. Ltd. moratorium has now been extended until 30 January 2020; the next hearing date has not yet been fixed but is expected to take place in mid-January 2020.

On top of a settlement reached with Petco Trading Labuan Company Ltd and Brightoil on 7 August 2019, the company has also entered into settlement agreements with other key creditors and obtained commitment letters from several creditors showing support for its debt restructuring efforts.

Intended sale of Zhoushan Oil Storage and Terminal Facilities

Talks with “potential investors” for the intended sale of Brightoil’s assets at Zhoushan are still on-going in Q3 2019, notes Brightoil.

A chronologically organised list of articles concerning Brightoil’s potential debt reorganization is below:

Photo credit: Brightoil
Published: 4 November, 2019

Technology

Singapore: Ofiniti, ONE trial direct platform integration to streamline bunker workflows

Ofiniti started a trial in Singapore, integrating FuelBoss directly with a bunker buyer’s own platform, with Ocean Network Express as its first buyer-side integration partner.

Published

2 hours ago

July 22, 2026

Admin

Singapore: Ofiniti, ONE trial direct platform integration to streamline bunker workflows

Ofiniti, the digital platform for maritime fuel operations, on Tuesday (21 July) said it has started a trial in Singapore, integrating FuelBoss directly with a bunker buyer’s own platform.

The company announced Singapore-headquartered container shipping firm Ocean Network Express (ONE) as its first buyer-side integration partner.

“It is no coincidence we start in Singapore, as the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) remains at the forefront of digitalisation of all things bunkering,” the company said in a social media post.

In November 2023, MPA launched its digital bunkering platform, becoming the world’s first port to implement e-BDN.

Ofiniti said every bunker delivery still runs on retyped data.

“The buyer’s system says one thing, the supplier says another, and someone reconciles the gap by email, phone, or PDF. On every stem,” the company said.

“We built FuelBoss to change this reality.”

With the integration, operational data now flows without manual re-entry, fewer reconciliation errors and faster processing and data, instead of documents, are readily available for procurement and claims workflows.

“One connection will not transform the industry on its own, but digitalisation gets built one integration at a time. We are grateful to ONE for being willing to go first,” Ofiniti added.

Manifold Times previously reported ONE completing its successful trial of the electronic Bunker Delivery Note (e-BDN) with Shell.

The e-BDN trial, using the digital bunkering solution developed by Angsana Technology, was conducted on 9 September 2023 at the Port of Singapore, with support from the MPA.

In March 2025, Ofiniti acquired Singapore-based Angsana Technology, with the entire Angsana team joining Ofiniti as part of the acquisition.

Photo credit: Ofiniti
Published: 22 July, 2026

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

24 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

24 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

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Brightoil faces $161 million claim from China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering

Business

Brightoil faces $161 million claim from China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering

Technology

Singapore: Ofiniti, ONE trial direct platform integration to streamline bunker workflows

Legal

Singapore withdraws remaining 127 charges against Hin Leong founder OK Lim

Winding up

Singapore: Coastal Logistics Pte Ltd to be wound up voluntarily

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