KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 22): Bumi Armada Bhd said it has received notice on the appointment of a manager to oversee the sale and disposal of crude oil stored on its Armada Perdana floating production storage and offloading (FPSO).

"The company wishes to announce that on Oct 18, 2018, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas granted an agreed order that, among other things, provides for the consensual appointment of a Receiver/Manager in Nigeria over Erin Petroleum Nigeria Ltd (EPNL) to oversee the sale and disposal of the crude oil stored on the Armada Perdana FPSO," it said in a filing today.

It said the order was obtained following the bankruptcy filing by EPNL with the subsequent conversion of the case to a liquidation proceeding.

The order provides that a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the crude oil which amounts to US$8.5 million (RM35 million) shall be used for the partial settlement of the outstanding amounts due from EPNL to Bumi Armada's unit Bumi Armada (Singapore) Pte Ltd (BASPL) and Armada Oyo Ltd for the provision of services under the Operational and Maintenance Services contract and Bareboat Charterparty contract.

It said the company will continue to provide updates from time to time on any further material developments regarding the Armada Perdana FPSO.

On April 17, Bumi Armada said BASPL received notice from EPNL about an alleged "force majeure event" and a request for an orderly shutdown of the operations of Armada Perdana.

BASPL had also received a notice of seizure of goods from a third party, stating that crude oil product to be produced and stored on Armada Perdana has been seized or attached by a writ of attachment issued by a court in Lagos, Nigeria.

Since last June, Bumi Armada has suspended operations on Armada Perdana due to delayed payments from EPNL.

At the midday break today, shares of Bumi Armada rose two sen or 4.88% to 43 sen, with 4.9 million shares done, for a market capitalisation of RM2.5 billion.