Badr oil tanker: One year of seizure in Bulgaria losing Libya millions

December 21 marks one year passing since Libyan oil tanker (Badr) has been seized in Bulgaria despite the court ruling for its release.

An official source at the National Company for Sea Transport told 218News that the reason behind seizing Badr is that it was “mortgaged” to be used by a Bulgarian firm that filed a lawsuit against the state of Libya and seizing it now is a pressing card against Libyan authorities to pay the firm. The source didn’t say how much the amount of money is.

The source added to 218News that Panama-falgged tanker’s seizure is because a drilling firm that was working in Libya wants money that goes back to the 1980s from the authorities in Libya. The source added that the losses because of Badr being off work accumulated to over 13 million dollars.

According to the information obtained by 218News, Badr vessel (5AWK) has a capacity of 160.000 tons and it was made in Korea in 2007.

The first time the tanker was seized was in 2017 then a Bulgarian court ordered its release in January 2018.

The market price of the oil tanker currently is 40 million dollars. Libya bought it in 2009 amid the International Recession with 100 million dollars, which was considered a catch.