Phnom Penh: The Indonesian Navy has confirmed that an oil tanker and its crew seized last month, is the one that had been under surveillance after fleeing Cambodian waters in the Gulf of Thailand with nearly 300,000 barrels of crude oil. The Bahamas-flagged MT Strovolos was seized on 27 July 2021, near the island of Sumatra, days after Cambodian authorities asked Interpol to issue a red statement, allowing the Indonesian military to intervene.
The Indonesian Navy says it has interrogated the ship's crew of 13 Indians, 3 Bangladeshis and 3 Myanmar nationals. The tanker was traveling from Thailand to Batam Island, but had shut down its identification system and illegally docked in Indonesian waters.
The tanker was leased by Singapore’s KrisEnergy for use in pumping Block A of the Apsara Area of Cambodia’s oil fields in the Gulf of Thailand, but in June, KrisEnergy filed for bankruptcy and shipped the oil away, first to Thailand, claiming that it owed money to the crew of the Strovolos. Director General of the General Department of Petroleum in the Ministry of Mines and Energy, Chiep Sour, says, “We have already lodged a complaint with the Indonesian side through our Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Indonesian side is taking action."
