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Global commodities trader Glencore International plc has increased its stake in Singapore-listed bunker supplier and storage terminal operator Chemoil Energy Ltd to 89.04 percent from 51.54 percent.

In a filing with the Singapore Stock Exhange, Glencore's wholly owned subsidiary Singfuel Investment Pte Ltd. (Singfuel) agreed to acquire 484.73 million additional shares in Chemoil, increasing the number of shares it owns to 1.15 billion from 666.2 million.

The filing did not disclose the price at which the additional shares were acquired.

Chemoil Energy shares were placed on a trading halt at 08:13 GMT on Tuesday. They were trading at US$0.255 ahead of the trading halt, valuing Glencore's increased share of the company at US$293.5 million.

Glencore first acquired a 50.8 percent majority stake in Chemoil Energy from the family of Chemoil founder Robert Chandran in December 2009 for US$233.3 million, with Singfuel's acquisition of 656.7 million Chemoil shares at 35.52 each.

The acquisition provided Glencore with a valuable marine fuels business in a number of key locations including the United States, Fujairah, Singapore and India.

The company also benefited from Chemoil's fuel storage facility network, which includes the Batangas terminal in the Philippines; Chemoil's flagship 270,000-cubic metre Helios Terminal on Jurong Island, Singapore and the GPS-Chemoil terminal in Fujairah.

Glencore is the world’s largest commodity trading company. It is a major player in the East Asia market for fuel oil, deals in a range of petroleum products, grains and metals as well as holding shares in smelters and mines.

This week, Glencore also agreed to buy the remaining 66 percent of mining giant Xstrata to create a $90 billion mining and commodity trading powerhouse, combining the world’s largest commodities trading firm with one of the biggest miners of thermal coal, copper, nickel and zinc.