Winson seeks US$30.4m from Standard Chartered Singapore over Hin Leong deal

[SINGAPORE] Winson Oil Trading has started legal proceedings against Standard Chartered Bank (Singapore) to claim at least US$30.4 million in payment for a diesel cargo it sold to Hin Leong Trading, court documents showed.

The case is among several disputes between counterparties of Hin Leong and banks on payment issues arising from oil deals with the Singapore-based trader, which has been placed under judicial management to restructure billions of dollars of debt.

The publicly available court documents show that Winson Oil sold an ultra-low sulphur diesel cargo to Hin Leong and had received a letter of credit (LC) from Standard Chartered on April 2, a common financial structure in oil dealings.

Winson Oil presented the LC to Standard Chartered via Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank but Standard Chartered did not make the payment, due in May, Winson Oil says in the documents.

Winson Oil is also seeking damages, interest and costs from Standard Chartered.

Standard Chartered and Credit Agricole declined to comment. Winson Oil did not respond to a request for comment.

Winson Oil had earlier in June said it was taking OCBC Bank to court to demand payment for a sale of fuel to Hin Leong that was financed by the bank.

REUTERS