MISC Bhd ... Feb 2009

MISC Bhd has denied the allegation that it has not made payment for its bunker fuel supply that could lead to the arrest of some of its vessels.

MISC had honoured its obligations under the contract and had to date made full payments to a third-party supplier for all bunker fuel purchased and supplied.

MISC has contracted the purchase of bunker fuel for its vessel to the third-party entity and have no other contractual relationship with any other suppliers. Therefore, the shipping giant said all claims including any arrests or threats to arrest MISC’s vessels made by the other bunker fuel suppliers for non-payment of their invoices were totally “unfounded, unwarranted and without merit” as MISC did not have a contractual relationship with these other physical suppliers.

Early Jan 2009, Platts, a provider of energy information, revealed that Petrobras, the Brazilian national oil company, among others, had complained of non-payment for bunker fuel contracted for use by MISC.

Meanwhile, it could form a shipping company with Venezuelan state controlled oil major PDVSA to ship LNG.