Brightoil Petroleum has seen two of its crude tankers were arrested in Singapore.

The 319,800-dwt Brightoil Grace (built 2013) and the 107,525-dwt Brightoil Lion (built 2010) were detained by mortgagee bank Credit Suisse, court documents show.

Both Hong Kong-flagged ships were detained by Singapore’s Admiralty sheriff on instructions from local law firm Joseph Tan Jude Benny LLP.

Credit Suisse contends that it is owed a total of $15.75m by the Hong Kong-based shipowner, according to court documents seen by TradeWinds.

Latest AIS data says the Brightoil Grace anchored A VLCC anchorage and the Brightoil Lion in the Singapore Eastern Bunkering Anchorage A.

VesselsValue says the Hyundai Heavy Industries-built VLCC is estimated to be worth in the region of $68m, while the Tadotsu Tsuneishi-built aframax is said to be worth $24.5m.

In late November Brightoil Petroleum dropped plans to sell off its tanker fleet on the back of the spike in tanker rates and a reported tie-up with Shell.

“Since early October this year and up to current date, the VLCC sector is experiencing a strong up-going market,” it said at the time.

“The group believes that the strong market trend will continue in 2019 and wants to continue pursuing the shipping business and maintains stable cash income for the group.”

Brightoil Petroleum drops tanker sales plan amid market upturn and Shell contracts

Brightoil also said that its subsidiary Brightoil Shipping Singapore had also secured charter agreements from Shell, but declined to disclose the ship type and the number of tankers involved.

However, within a week of this announcement it had six of its Singapore-based bunker tankers arrested over outstanding debt payments.

The vessels involved were the 7,000-dwt Brightoil 639, Brightoil 688 and the Brightoil 666 as well as the 4,100-dwt Brightoil 319, Brightoil 326 and Brightoil 329.

Separately, creditors of Brightoil Singapore filed two lawsuits and an order to liquidate the company in Singapore’s High Court.

Vietnam’s top fuel importer Petrolimex filed an application for a winding up order for the company after it failed to meet deadlines to repay more than $30m in outstanding debt.

In another case, Qatar National Bank (QNB) made a claim against Brightoil Singapore and its holding company for $21.6m.