---

Three of the six former members of BP's fuel oil and marine fuels trading teams currently being sued by the oil major for breach of contract have countersued for wrongful dismissal.

BP's former global fuel oil trading head, Quek Chin Thean, the ex-head of its marine fuels business in Asia, Clarence Chang and senior trader John Foo claim, in documents filed with the Singapore High Court yesterday, that they were wrongly dismissed and are owed an unspecified amount of money by BP.

A fourth ex-employee, former executive assistant Laura Kuan, claims that she is owed $379,002 (approximately US$280,000), which the oil major wrongfully withheld after she left.

The two other former members of staff, senior trader Paul John Bradshaw and legal manager Simon Cheong have not filed counter claims.

Last month a writ of summons was issued against the six former BP employees where they were accused of breaching their fiduciary duties and misusing confidential information to help Hong Kong-listed Brightoil Petroleum set up a rival business in Singapore.

The six resigned from BP in May and were serving a period of gardening leave, which was supposed to last until July 16th, Quek said in court papers. However, Quek, Chang and Foo were fired by BP on July 9th, before the end of their gardening leave, according to documents.

The three counter claimed that the dismissal seven days before the end of their gardening leave was wrongful, caused them “great distress”, damaged their reputations and that they suffered material loss as a result.

All six of the former BP employees were hired by Brightoil together with other ex-BP staff. The group are understood to have accepted a signing bonus from the Hong Kong-listed firm, but deny misusing confidential BP information.

According to industry sources, most of the 20 members of staff who left BP Singapore have commenced working for Brightoil over the past week.

In its lawsuit BP said Quek and Cheong masterminded the departures of the 20 staff and carried out negotiations with Brightoil whilst they were still employed by the oil major, a claim both men have denied.

In court papers Quek said that at least 40 employees have left BP’s Asian trading operations this year and that the record loss in the second quarter following the Gulf of Mexico oil spill could have prompted some workers to leave BP.

Policy changes on the trading floor and a change in the way bonuses were paid were also quoted as possible reasons for the wave of departures.