WILLEMSTAD - The fuel oil saga in the Bullenbaai tanks may be reaching its final chapter. An amount of $9.2 million has been deposited into the accounts of the state-owned company to settle outstanding rent. It is unclear who made this payment, but if it is accurate, it could prevent further embargoes on the product.
Until yesterday morning, the Curaçao Refinery was unable to confirm the news. As one insider put it: "The end is yet to come." However, internal sources within the company revealed this information. With the payment of back rent, Lead Group, claiming ownership of the fuel oil, can now initiate the process of removing the product from Curaçao for sale in the international market. A legal battle over the ownership of the contraband fuel oil in the Bullenbaai tanks emerged in Curaçao. Raul Soccoro's group, owner of SOCAP, along with former partners in Caribbean Petroleum Refinery, began their legal dispute with Erchenel Doran, who was their local partner. The battle centered on the rights to the contraband fuel oil in the Bullenbaai tanks. In the midst of the conflict, another Panamanian company, KNOB Trading, came to light, paying for the allocations at Bullenbaai. However, the banks froze all KNOB transactions in Curaçao due to the official authorization of the fuel oil. Subsequently, two attempted seizures were granted and subsequently revoked by the court, releasing all embargoes on the fuel oil.
Consequently, a new company has appeared to claim the fuel oil. This company is Lead Group, also from Panama. Lead sent their "top gun" advisor, Fransisco Mancelli, to handle the fuel oil matters. Mancelli managed to convince the court at Nieuwe Haven to lift all embargoes on the fuel oil, so they could pay CRU the overdue rent and thereby go through with the $20 million worth of fuel oil. Yesterday, Lead Group had to secure a legitimate buyer for the fuel oil. Once the banks accept the payment from the legitimized company, the fuel oil can leave Curaçao. If not, the fuel oil will go up for a public auction on November 1.
As widely reported, the fuel oil in the Bullenbaai tanks is contraband fuel oil. This has caused numerous issues as Curaçao Refinery Utilities has been unable to receive payments from international companies related to the fuel oil. Since last August, lawyers from the Curaçao Refinery threatened to put the fuel oil up for public auction and sell it.
In the meantime, Caribbean Petroleum Refinery BV, Lead Group, and KNOB Trading found a buyer in the international market, and the purchase will take place so that CRU can receive the overdue amount of $9.1 million USD for the rent. The sale of the fuel oil must happen before November 1, or else the public auction takes place. Now, Lead, the owner of the fuel oil, is going to finalize the sale to a "compliant" company, a company capable of handling the necessary payment procedures where CRU's debt will also be canceled. The structure of the debt process is not known.
If Lead fails, the lawyers of the Curaçao Refinery will move forward with the auction of the batch of fuel oil in the Bullenbaai tanks. The Curaçao Refinery has not provided any response to the recent developments regarding the Fuel Oil auction. The Court of First Instance, through a verdict in Summary Proceedings, removed a seizure that former associates of the Caribbean Petroleum Refinery BV (Venezuelan associates) had placed on the fuel oil. These former associates had seized the fuel oil to ensure that the company KNOB Trading and Lead Group, both from Panama, do not remove the fuel oil from Bullenbaai.
