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Brightoil's six bunker supply vessels were arrested on Wednesday, Singapore Supreme Court records show.

The company's fleet of six delivery tankers comprises Brightoil 319 (4,100 dwt), Brightoil 326 (4,100 dwt), Brightoil 329 (4,100 dwt), Brightoil 639 (7,000 dwt), Brightoil 666 (7,999 dwt) and Brightoil 688 (7,000 dwt).

The vessel arrests followed a detention request by law firm Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP - the company that filed a claim on behalf of Vietnam's Petrolimex to wind up Brightoil Petroleum (Singapore) Pte Ltd.

Petrolimex case and debt restructuring efforts

On Friday, Petrolimex's case against Brightoil was heard for the first time in Singapore's High Court, with Rajah & Tann's Sim Kwan Kiat and Lim Wee Teck acting as legal representatives for the plaintiff and Drew & Napier LLC defending Brightoil.

According to Reuters, in today's hearing, the court heard that Brightoil had failed to meet deadlines to pay back more than $30m in outstanding debt after reaching an agreement in July to repay the amount due in four instalments.

The case is said to have been adjourned until December 14 to give Brightoil time to work on its debt restructuring efforts.

Earlier this week, Brightoil had explained that it was working with a lead bank under the guidance of the People's Bank of China to formulate a financing package and debt optimization plan in an effort to optimize its debt structure and improve liquidity. But the company did note that developments were "at a preliminary stage".

Brightoil had previously stated that it was in talks to sell all its 15 ships, comprising five VLCCs, four Aframaxes and six bunkering tankers, but on Wednesday the supplier confirmed that the plan had been shelved after instead arranging to charter its nine non-bunkering vessels (i.e. the ships not arrested) to Shell.