Commodity trader BB Energy has taken delivery of a crude oil cargo from the government of South Sudan over the weekend, months after taking the country to court over its failure to repay a US$100mn loan.
London-headquartered BB Energy successfully took delivery of 600,000 barrels of Dar Blend crude on February 14, according to a spokesperson and company statement, the first overdue cargo to be delivered under the pre-payment deal.
The cargo was lifted onto the Pakistani-flagged oil tanker Mardan, which is now en route to Singapore, according to online vessel-tracking tools.
The delivery comes after BB Energy won a court injunction last November to prevent a cargo being sold by South Sudan to independent traders that had not made pre-payments. The injunction was later lifted.
The trader advanced US$100mn to the government of South Sudan last February as pre-payment for five crude oil deliveries, lawyers for the trader told the court, but authorities failed to deliver any of the promised cargoes.
Over the weekend BB Energy said that following high-level talks with the South Sudanese government, the two sides “have jointly developed a comprehensive repayment framework” under the pre-payment facility. Further meetings have been scheduled “in coming days” to finalise “a mutually acceptable agreement without delay”, the statement added.
The trader’s chief executive praised the South Sudanese president personally for his role in the negotiations and oil delivery.
“The lifting of this cargo represents an important first step and a very positive development for both BB Energy and the Republic of South Sudan,” Mohamed Bassatne said in a statement.
“Acting under the instructions of President Salva Kiir Mayardit, the [finance minister] Bak Barnaba Chol and [Nile Petroleum managing director] Chol Deng Thon Abel have worked tirelessly and constructively to unlock this progress. I would like to sincerely thank them and their teams for their professionalism, commitment, and openness over recent months.”
“We now look forward to concluding the comprehensive agreement covering the remaining deliveries under our prepayment arrangement as soon as possible, and to restoring the strong, mutually beneficial relationship that has characterised BB Energy’s engagement with South Sudan for many years.”
South Sudan is one of the world’s most impoverished nations and in recent months has been grappling with worsening violence between the government and opposition forces in Jonglei state, where the UN says 280,000 people have been displaced.
In recent years South Sudan has largely failed to deliver oil to creditors such as QNB, the African Export-Import Bank and UAE trader Nasdec General Trading, which collectively lent the government more than US$2bn under pre-payment arrangements.
Damage to an oil pipeline to neighbouring Sudan, where most South Sudanese oil reaches the global market, further hampered deliveries.
