Oil major approvals – The MT Rowan

Edward Yang Liu Legal Assistant, Reed Smith Richards Butler

Although oil major approvals play a very important role in tanker trading, there are very few reported English cases. Last year, the English Commercial Court considered the meaning of ‘oil major’ in the case Dolphin Tankers Srl v Westport Petroleum Inc [2011] EWHC 2617 (Comm) (a case mainly discussing the scope of admissible evidence; see comment in STL Vol 10 (10)). In Transpetrol Maritime Services Ltd v SJB (Marine Energy) BV (‘The MT Rowan’) [2011] EWHC 3374 (Comm), the English Commercial Court took the opportunity to review this issue thoroughly and interpreted the meaning of ‘approved’ in the context of the charterparty.