WILLEMSTAD - The Court of First Instance has recently ruled that a lien placed on a cargo on board the oil tanker Icaro must be lifted. This allowed a cargo of crude oil, destined for the refinery in the Schottegat, to be delivered.

The case was filed by Refineria Isla Curaçao bv against Exotic Waves Marine S.A., established in Monrovia, Liberia. The latter had ordered the cargo and bunkers of the Icaro on 14 and 15 December. The first lien was removed quite quickly, but the second was maintained. The last was a seizure estimated at $ 7.4 million at the expense of PdVSA Petróleo S.A.

According to Isla Refinery - represented in this case by Counselor Chester Peterson - the seizure was unlawful, because it prevents the Icaro from leaving its current berth in Bullenbaai, particularly due to the seizure of the Icaro bunkers and go to Schottegat, where the load of 202,351 barrels of crude oil must be discharged. The Isla urgently needs this oil for the BOO plant and for the start-up of the oil refinery.