Aviation Oil granted 6-week extension
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-12-13 13:26

China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corp. was granted a six-week extension Friday for a restructuring plan following massive trading losses.

Court documents released Saturday show that it has sunk at least US$152 million into debt since losing US$550 million in oil derivative markets.

The Singapore-listed arm of China's dominant supplier of jet fuel owed the debt to 12 banks, said Tay Yong-kwang, a judge at Singapore's High Court.

The court had initially set a Dec. 13 deadline for the restructuring plan.

"The court has given us six weeks' extension and six months to call a creditors' meeting," Patrick Ang, China Aviation's lawyer, said after an hour-long hearing.

Deloitte & Touche Financial Advisory Services is working on the restructuring plan along with a task force appointed by the company's controlling shareholder, China Aviation Oil Holdings Co.

China Aviation Oil (Singapore) began losing money on oil derivatives in the first quarter of this year but continued to gamble that crude and jet fuel prices would fall for the rest of the year. Benchmark crude prices closed at a high of US$55.17 per barrel twice in late October.

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