LONDON/MARRAKESH, June 28 (Reuters) - A crude oil cargo that had been sitting off the coast of Morocco for nearly a year is sailing in search of another buyer after the refiner Samir
SAMI.CS
failed to reach an agreement to unload the oil.
The departure of the vessel, the Delta Tolmi, is the latest blow to the efforts of Morocco's sole oil refinery to restart nearly a year after shutting down due to liquidity problems.
The ship is now en route to northwest Europe, according to Reuters vessel tracking data, although the new owner was not immediately clear.
The vessel arrived off the coast of Mohammedia with 1 million barrels of crude in August 2015, and has been circling offshore since then.
A source close to Samir said the company could not unload the oil because of debt issues that prevented the Islamic Development Bank, which has a contract to finance Samir's crude oil imports, from granting it the property title it needed to discharge the cargo at its refinery. The two had tried, but ultimately failed, to reach an agreement, the source added.
Samir owes millions to creditors from trade houses to banks, along with some 13 billion dirhams ($1.33 billion) in taxes the government says it is owed.
The refiner has been ordered into liquidation by Moroccan courts, but last week secured another six months to restart production in order to attract a buyer during that process. While its efforts to buy more crude via tenders have so far been unsuccessful, officials from the company said talks to buy oil are ongoing.
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(Reporting By Libby George and Aziz El Yaakoubi, editing by David Evans) ((Libby.George@thomsonreuters.com; +44 207 542 7714; Reuters Messaging: libby.george@thomsonreuters.com))
The departure of the vessel, the Delta Tolmi, is the latest blow to the efforts of Morocco's sole oil refinery to restart nearly a year after shutting down due to liquidity problems.
The ship is now en route to northwest Europe, according to Reuters vessel tracking data, although the new owner was not immediately clear.
The vessel arrived off the coast of Mohammedia with 1 million barrels of crude in August 2015, and has been circling offshore since then.
A source close to Samir said the company could not unload the oil because of debt issues that prevented the Islamic Development Bank, which has a contract to finance Samir's crude oil imports, from granting it the property title it needed to discharge the cargo at its refinery. The two had tried, but ultimately failed, to reach an agreement, the source added.
Samir owes millions to creditors from trade houses to banks, along with some 13 billion dirhams ($1.33 billion) in taxes the government says it is owed.
The refiner has been ordered into liquidation by Moroccan courts, but last week secured another six months to restart production in order to attract a buyer during that process. While its efforts to buy more crude via tenders have so far been unsuccessful, officials from the company said talks to buy oil are ongoing.
(Reporting By Libby George and Aziz El Yaakoubi, editing by David Evans) ((Libby.George@thomsonreuters.com; +44 207 542 7714; Reuters Messaging: libby.george@thomsonreuters.com))
