An Aframax tanker with a €197M cargo on board is the centre of a dispute between oil trader and a refinery
The Antipinsky oil refinery in the Tyumen region of Russia claimed to be the first oil refinery built in Russia for private owners but has now filed for bankruptcy, leaving an Aframax tanker, Polar Rock, stranded with a cargo off Murmansk.
According to the Russian Legal Information Agency, the oil refinery has petitioned for its own bankruptcy following a lawsuit granted in the High Court of Justice to freeze €225M (US$254M) of the refinery’s assets on behalf of VTB Commodities Trading including Polar Rock’s cargo.
The dispute is believed to stem from a cash flow crisis in the Antipinsky oil refinery, which reportedly failed to pay its crude oil suppliers.
St Petersburg-based VTB Commodities Trading had earlier applied to the Commercial Court of Murmansk Region to seize the petroleum cargo on Polar Rock, valued at €197M (US$222M), but the Court refused, leading to the trader taking the issue to London.
According to VesselsValue, 1996-built, 105,200 dwt Polar Rock is owned by TransFin M and is currently valued at scrap.
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