SINGAPORE: UAE-based oil trader GP Global has uncovered fraud within the company and filed criminal complaints against some of its employees, its legal representative said in a letter to the company’s clients on its behalf.
“A few employees have colluded with external entities using the coronavirus (lockdown) and work from home arrangement to defraud the company and its customers,” Arun Abraham, legal consultant and partner at UAE-based Salam Advocates & Legal Consultants said in the letter reviewed by Reuters.
Salam Advocates were advising GP Global on “the internal investigation that was underway,” Abraham said, confirming that the letter had been sent out to some of GP Global’s clients last week.
Based on preliminary investigations, “criminal complaints have been filed against few employees in Sharjah and Fujairah,” Abraham said in the letter.
The internal investigations revealed that “the fraudsters manipulated records that switched the cargo under the custodianship of GP with those goods financed by various banks and under CMA (collateral management agreement),” according to the letter.
A detailed investigation is continuing on the methods of the fraud, “the individuals and entities involved, and the impact of the fraud” on GP’s business, the company’s letter said.
GP Global, a supplier of marine fuels worldwide with offices in Europe, Asia and the US, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On July 20, GP Global said that it had undertaken a “financial restructuring exercise” after it failed to “get full support from a few financial institutions recently.”
GP Global had also said that recent market rumors questioning the company’s financial condition were “blatant lies” being spread by “vested interests” and assured stakeholders its business was operating normally.
UAE oil trader GP Global files complaints over employee fraud
https://arab.news/z9nmf
UAE oil trader GP Global files complaints over employee fraud
- ‘A few employees have colluded with external entities using the coronavirus lockdown to defraud the company and its customers.’
European gas prices soar almost 50% as Iran conflict halts Qatar LNG output
- Analysts warn prolonged disruption could push prices higher
- Some shipments of oil, LNG through Strait of Hormuz suspended
- Benchmark Asian LNG price up almost 39 percent
LONDON: Benchmark Dutch and British wholesale gas prices soared by almost 50 percent on Monday, after major liquefied natural gas exporter Qatar Energy said it had halted production due to attacks in the Middle East.
Qatar, soon to cement its role as the world’s second largest LNG exporter after the US, plays a major role in balancing both Asian and European markets’ demand of LNG.
Most tanker owners, oil majors and trading houses have suspended crude oil, fuel and liquefied natural gas shipments via the Strait of Hormuz, trade sources said, after Tehran warned ships against moving through the waterway.
Europe has increased imports of LNG over the past few years as it seeks to phase out Russian gas following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Around 20 percent of the world’s LNG transits through the Strait of Hormuz and a prolonged suspension or full closure would increase global competition for other sources of the gas, driving up prices internationally.
“Disruptions to LNG flows would reignite competition between Asia and Europe for available cargoes,” said Massimo Di Odoardo, vice president, gas and LNG research at Wood Mackenzie.
The Dutch front-month contract at the TTF hub, seen as a benchmark price for Europe, was up €14.56 at €46.52 per megawatt hour, or around $15.92/mmBtu, by 12:55 p.m. GMT, ICE data showed.
Prices were already some 25 percent higher earlier in the day but extended gains after QatarEnergy’s production halt.
Benchmark Asian LNG prices jumped almost 39 percent on Monday morning with the S&P Global Energy Japan-Korea-Marker, widely used as an Asian LNG benchmark, at $15.068 per million British thermal units, Platts data showed.
“If LNG/gas markets start to price in an extended period of losses to Qatari LNG supply, TTF could potentially spike to 80-100 euros/MWh ($28-35/mmBtu),” Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING, said. The British April contract was up 40.83 pence at 119.40 pence per therm, ICE data showed.
Europe is also relying on LNG imports to help fill its gas storage sites which have been depleted over the winter and are currently around 30 percent full, the latest data from Gas Infrastructure Europe showed. In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract was down €1.10 at €69.17 a tonne
