Brightoil Petroleum CEO and chairman Sit Kwong Lam has quit the company after being declared bankrupt in Hong Kong.
The troubled VLCC owner's boss had provided a personal guarantee of more than $30m for goods Brightoil bought from Vietnam-owned trader Petrolimex Singapore last April.
Petrolimex had applied for the bankruptcy order when the debt was not settled. It is also trying to wind up a Brightoil subsidiary in Singapore.
Hong Kong-listed Brightoil said that Sit stepped down as chairman, CEO and executive director on 11 April.
Sit plans to appeal against the order and seek reappointment as director.
Brightoil said: "The board considers that the ongoing debt restructuring process of the company will continue following the vacation of Dr Sit as an executive director of the company.
"The board will consider suitable replacement candidate(s) for the position of the chairman of the board and CEO in scheduled board meeting soonest."
Thanks expressed
It added: "The board would like to take this opportunity to express its sincere gratitude to Dr Sit for his valuable contributions to the group throughout his term of office."
TradeWinds has previously reported that banks behind the arrest of Brightoil's 15-strong fleet are suffering the expense of keeping the vessels in warm lay-up in high-cost jurisdictions amid tightening emissions rules.
Five of the large tankers in the company's fleet are under arrest in Hong Kong waters, where the cost of low-sulphur fuel and other environmental protection regulations are eating into the final sum they will recover in a court-ordered auction.
At the beginning of February, Brightoil's five VLCCs and six bunkering tankers were arrested. The remaining four aframax tankers in the fleet are understood to have been seized not long after.
