Azerbaijani national oil company Socar has won a $49.5m arbitration award in London against embattled Turkish shipowner Palmali Holding.
Socar said in a statement that the decision was issued on 5 November at the London Court of International Arbitration.
The case involved the Socar Overseas, which was won the award at the same time that the court dismissed in its entirety a multi-million dollar counterclaim by Palmali.
The decision is another blow for a Turkish company whose Azerbaijan-born owner, Mubariz Mansimov, has been under arrest in Turkey since March.
Socar said it used to have "commercial relations" with Palmali, although the two companies have never founded a joint venture.
More battles ahead
Two other arbitration cases remain outstanding.
"In 2018, due to Palmali's violation of commitments, the companies, belonging to Socar Group, initiated arbitration proceedings against the companies of Palmali Group and Mubariz Mansimov," Socar said.
Both groups have been contacted for further information.
In January 2018, Socar contradicted reports it had seized 14 Palmali tankers over debts.
Turkish media claimed the vessels were confiscated, but Socar spokesman Ibrahim Ahmedov said in an APA news agency report that his company had not carried out such an action against Palmali.
In 2017, the Turkish outfit sold 10 ships to Socar, including five aframaxes, two suezmaxes and an LPG carrier.
Charters and loans
The oil company's Socar Trading subsidiary formed a new shipping arm, United Maritime Logistics (UML), to handle all the state oil group's chartering requirements after it terminated a 10-year-old transport deal with Palmali.
Socar, a major customer, had previously loaned $120m to Palmali.
Last month, a company linked to Russian creditor Sberbank bought the tanker and tank barge fleet of Palmali's bankrupt Russian subsidiary.
The 46 vessels were acquired at auction after the bank failed to find any other buyer, a statement on the website of Russia's Interregional Electronic Trading System (IETS) said.
SBK Dolina paid RUB 4.03bn ($60.5m), IETS said.
The Spark-Interfax news agency reported that SBK Dolina is registered in Moscow and engages in the provision of financial services, with Sberbank as its ultimate owner.
Fleet pledged
Palmali LLC was declared bankrupt in 2018, and creditors' claims exceed RUB 25bn, including about RUB 13bn demanded by Sberbank, to which the Palmali LLC fleet was pledged.
Mansimov was arrested in Turkey in March. Turkish prosecutors have accused him of links to an outlawed organisation headed by Fethullah Gulen, an opponent of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In a response to the reports, Palmali said in June that "there is no evidence to support these false claims", which Mansimov "emphatically denies".
