Indonesia Jails Captain of Tanker Arrested for Illegal anchorage

Reuters
Friday, July 15, 2022

The captain of a fuel tanker arrested by the Indonesian navy in May on suspicion of illegally anchoring in its waters has been jailed for 15 days and fined 200 million rupiah ($13,350), a navy spokesman said on Wednesday.

The Nord Joy, a Panama-flagged oil products tanker, was detained on May 30 whilst anchored in Indonesian waters to the east of the Singapore Strait, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

Indonesian navy officers asked for an unofficial payment of $375,000 to release the vessel, two people involved in the negotiations told Reuters at the time.  

The Indonesian navy denied any such payment was requested and said the vessel was being held for anchoring in its waters without a permit. Synergy Group, the manager of the Nord Joy, also said it was not aware of any request by the navy for money.

The vessel has been released after a court on July 7 handed down the jail sentence and fine to Vivek Kumar, the ship's captain, Navy spokesman Julius Widjojono told Reuters.

A Synergy Group spokesperson confirmed its vessel had been released after a court hearing on Batam, an Indonesian island south of Singapore that is home to an Indonesian naval base.

The tanker, which is 183 meters (600.39 ft) long and can carry up to 350,000 barrels of fuel, is currently anchored to the west of Singapore en route to Tanjung Pelepas port in Malaysia, according to Refinitiv ship tracking data.

Last year, Reuters reported a dozen similar detentions by the Indonesian navy in waters to the east of Singapore. In those cases, the ship owners made unofficial payments of about $300,000 each and the vessels were released.  

The navy denies any such payments were made.

($1 = 14,977.0000 rupiah)

(Reuters - Reporting by Stanley Widianto in Jakarta and Joe Brock in Singapore/Editing by Ed Davies)


Categories: Legal Asia Oil Tankers

Related Stories

Valeura Energy, PTTEP Partner Up on Gulf of Thailand Blocks

Sapura Scoops Over $118M for Chevron, PTTEP Subsea Ops off Thailand

SBM Offshore’s Jaguar FPSO Enters Drydock in Singapore (Video)

Baker Hughes, Petronas Team Up for Asia-Pacific Energy Resilience

Valeura Makes Progress with Multi-Well Drilling Campaign in Gulf of Thailand

PTTEP Hires Energy Drilling’s Rig for Southeast Asia Offshore Job

One Shelf Drilling Rig Up for New Job in India, Other for Disposal

Four Jack-Up Drilling Rig Deals Set to Bring In $129M for Borr Drilling

PTTEP Hires Velesto’s Jack-Up Rig for Drilling Campaign off Malaysia

Centrica and Thailand’s PTT Ink Long-Term LNG Supply Deal

Current News

BP, ONGC, Reliance Industries Ink Deal for Offshore Exploration in India

Allseas-Boskalis Consortium Bags $1.4B Offshore Gas Pipeline Job in Taiwan

CNOOC Brings New Offshore Gas Field On Stream

Yinson, PTSC Get $600M Contract for Vietnam-Bound FSO

PTTEP Buys Chevron's Hess Unit Share of Southeast Asia’s Offshore Block for $450M

Valeura Energy, PTTEP Partner Up on Gulf of Thailand Blocks

Sapura Scoops Over $118M for Chevron, PTTEP Subsea Ops off Thailand

Pandion Energy Divests Interests in Three Norwegian Assets to Inpex

China Starts Production at Major Oil Field in Bohai Sea

Dutch Contractor Completes Malaysia’s Largest 'Rig-to-Reef' Decom Project

Subscribe for AOG Digital E‑News

AOG Digital E-News is the subsea industry's largest circulation and most authoritative ENews Service, delivered to your Email three times per week

https://accounts.newwavemedia.com