Brightoil Petroleum is selling some of the last vessels it was left with after a wide-ranging financial restructuring that began three years ago.

Market sources and brokers report that the company is in the process of selling a group of seven small product tankers built 10 years ago at prices between $6.5m and $7m each.

According to the sources, the ships in question are the similarly named 7,000-dwt Guang Hui 616, 618, 619, 626, 628, 629 and 636 (all built 2013).

Four of these vessels are heading to Greece. Coral Shipping, a low-profile player, is said to be picking them up but it has not been possible to identify which exactly.

The remaining three are believed to have been bought by interests based in China and Dubai.

Managers at Brightoil did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

If the information about a sale turns out to be correct, data from VesselsValue and S&P Global Markets suggests that Brightoil would be left with just two bunkering vessels.

Brightoil and the Petroglory group it is part of sold 15 tankers under a debt restructuring plan three years ago.

According to the company’s website, these sales left Brightoil with a number of tankers servicing offshore oil transport and oil distribution along the Chinese coast.

A press article posted on the company’s website in January this year states that 28 banks and financial institutions participated in Brightoil’s debt restructuring plan, which resulted in a “zero default” status for the company.

Apart from selling Brightoil’s VLCCs and aframaxes, the plan included divesting most of the company’s equity in a 3m-cbm oil terminal at Zhoushan.

Brightoil’s business focus would “gradually shift” to upstream oil and gas assets, the article said.

Replenishing the fleet

As for Coral Shipping, the Athens-based company has been known to manage small product carriers in its diversified tanker fleet.

The John Kilakos-led outfit currently features four such vessels in its stable of 10 ships.

Before boosting its fleet with the four Brightoil ships, Coral probably made highly profitable asset plays with the sale of two bigger tankers.

According to VesselsValue and S&P Global, a pair left its fleet and is now trading with new owners: the 72,900-dwt Prestigious (renamed Prestigious WD, built 2003) and 47,100-dwt Victorious (renamed Victory Ari, built 2005).

The two ships changed hands between August 2022 and January 2023. They were worth far more at the time than what Coral spent to buy them a few years ago.