Company sues oil marketer over alleged re-sale of kerosene allocation

A PETROLEUM products dealer, Stallionaire Nigeria Limited‎, has sued a major oil marketer, Acorn Petroleum Plc at the Federal High Court, Lagos over the alleged re-sale of kerosene allocation from the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company Limited (PPMC).

In the suit, marked as FHC/L/CS/628/2015 before Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke, the plaintiff alleged that Acorn collected full payment from it in respect of the allocation.

In a statement of claim filed by Stallionaire’s counsel, Mr Chijioke Emeka, the plaintiff claimed title over the 5,000 Metric Tonnes of the Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK) cargo.

It averred that Acorn had perfected plans to deliver the cargo to another marketer even while holding onto the first payment by the plaintiff.

Stallionaire had secured an order arresting the DPK cargo onboard an oil tanker, MT Sea Pioneer.‎

Justice Aneke ordered that the vessel should be detained pending Acorn’s provision of a bank guarantee in the sum of N488 million and N132,287,960 from a reputable commercial bank to secure the plaintiff’s claims.

The plaintiff claimed that it made full payment to Acorn for the product, but rather than it being delivered to it, Acorn (the first defendant) allegedly resold the product to a third party.

However, Acorn denied the allegations, saying they are not true and not related to Stallionaire’s claims.

As a result, it prayed the court to discharge the arrest order, or to release the vessel, but the plaintiff urged the court to refuse the application.