BP has rejected an accusation that its marine fuel was linked to the sinking of a giant Japanese ore carrier off Mauritius last year as “baseless”, saying the product it supplied met all industry standards.

In an article published by Forbes, Mauritian development economist Nishan Degnarain said BP supplied very low-sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) to the 203,100-dwt Wakashio (built 2007) in Singapore last July.