WILLEMSTAD - The discussion about the 496 million barrels of Fuel Oil in the tanks at Bullenbaai continues. Since September 2022, the Fuel Oil in the Bullenbaai tanks has been causing local and international issues. The company Lead World Group claims ownership of the Fuel Oil, and as of this Tuesday, they are selling the Fuel Oil to pay the Curaçao Refinery 9.1 million dollars overdue.
As widely reported on various occasions, the Fuel Oil in the Bullenbaai tanks is contraband Fuel Oil. This has caused many issues for Curaçao Refinery Utilities (CRU), as they were unable to receive payments from international companies related to the Fuel Oil. Since last August, attorneys for the Curaçao Refinery threatened to place the Fuel Oil on the public auction block and sell it.
In the meantime, Caribbean Petroleum Refinery BV, Lead Group, and KNOB Trading found a buyer in the international market for the sale to take place so CRU can receive the overdue sum of 9.1 million US dollars. The sale of the Fuel Oil had to occur before November 1, or else the public auction would proceed. Now, Lead, which is the owner of the Fuel Oil, will make the sale to a "compliant" company, which is capable of completing the necessary payment procedures, where CRU's debt will be canceled. The debt structure details are unknown.
If Lead does not succeed, the attorneys of Curaçao Refinery will seek a court order to place the lot of Fuel Oil in the Bullenbaai tanks up for auction. Curaçao Refinery has not responded to recent developments regarding the public auction of the Fuel Oil. A Civil Court, through a Summary Judgment verdict, lifted the embargo that former partners of Caribbean Petroleum Refinery BV (Venezuelan partners) had placed on the Fuel Oil. These former partners had placed the embargo to ensure that Knob Trading, a company from Panama, would pay the Bullenbaai. They also placed an embargo on the Fuel Oil. However, an agreement was reached between Lead Group and Knob Trading to lift the embargo on the Fuel Oil. But at the same time, when Lead Group and Knob Trading initiated a counterclaim to lift the embargo, the process of selling the Fuel Oil at a public auction commenced.