OW Bunker: UK Court Grants Leave to Appeal in Res Cogitans Test Case

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Tuesday February 16, 2016

In the latest development in a so-called UK "test case" for potential double payments by bunker buyers resulting from the fallout of OW Bunker bankruptcy, the Court of Appeal Thursday granted the owners of the vessel Res Cogitans a leave to appeal, North P&I Club reports.

As Ship & Bunker has previously reported, the case involves PST Energy 7 Shipping LLC (PST Shipping), who had contracted with OW Bunker Malta Ltd (OWBM) for bunkers that were physically delivered to its vessel Res Cogitans by a subsidiary of Rosneft Marine (UK) Ltd (Rosneft).

The date of the resulting Supreme Court hearing has not yet been announced.

The outcome of the case it set to shape how numerous similar cases will be handled.

A win for Dutch bank ING, who is collecting debts assigned to it following OW's collapse, will mean many buyers will be open to paying both ING under a contractual debt, as well as the physical supplier for the actual bunkers.

So far, three out of three rulings have gone in favour of ING.