Claims Against OW Bunker Could Exceed $300 million, $21.5 Million Confirmed

A list of at least 100 companies are expected to take legal action against OW Bunker and subsidiaries.

Claims against failed OW Bunker may exceed $300 million, reports Shipping Watch, though court documents have so far only confirmed a total of $21.5 million, according to Platts. 

Shipping Watch said it had seen a list of at least 100 companies with outstanding payments, with the largest claims to come from Singapore-listed companies such as Petrochina International and BP Singapore. 

The top 20 companies on the list alone reportedly have claims totalling over $150 million. 

So far, seven plaintiffs have officially stepped forward with five claims totalling $21.5 million according to court records, with multiple firms having joined between Tuesday and Wednesday. 

Golden Island Diesel Oil Trading, Bunker House Petroleum, Equatorial Marine Fuel Management Services, Sirius Marine, Mitsui & Co Energy Trading Singapore and Panoil Petroleum joined Hin Leong Trading, who also arrested a bunker tanker on Wednesday, in submitting claims over unpaid fuel. 

Golden Island Diesel Oil Trading also reportedly made two separate filings totalling $1.3 million and $1.5 million for unpaid IFO380 bunkers. 

Players involved in the fallout have said the flood of legal action is not expected to abate any time soon.

"More plaintiffs will come forward, and they will not be waiting around to make claims because when the time comes for the courts to determine which companies should get paid their dues, the ones who made claims earlier might get priority," said one trader in Singapore.

European and more specifically Dutch companies are also expected to be well represented on the list of companies seeking claims, with Uno-X Energi AS and Dutch Argos Bunkering reported to be high up on the list, along with Statoil Fuel & Retail Norway and Wiljo.

Belgian fuel supplier Wiljo, who has a claim of about $10 million, announced yesterday that it was working with debt recovery specialist Coface to seize between 10-15 vessels.

OW Bunker, who was one of the world's largest fuel suppliers before last week, declared bankruptcy last Friday just days after it announced it announced a $150 million loss from its risk management position and said it was informed of a $125 million fraud at its Singapore subsidiary Dynamic Oil Trading.