A US federal appeals court has shut down NuStar’s attempt to collect part of a $2.99m fuel bill owed in the aftermath of the OW Bunker collapse.

The Fifth Circuit Court of ­Appeals reaffirmed that NuStar Energy Services did not hold liens against Cosco. It said the San Antonio company was relying on a “too speculative chain of possibilities” in arguing that it would ­receive any of the money.