Clive Palmer has failed in a "last-minute" bid for a Queensland Supreme Court justice to recuse himself from hearing a lawsuit between one of his companies and a Singapore-based exploration firm.

Mineralogy is seeking a declaration it is not obliged to pay money to BGP Geoexplorer over a roughly $22 million debt allegedly owed by Palmer Petroleum, stemming from survey work in the Gulf of Papua.

Businessman Clive Palmer outside court.

But Queensland Supreme Court Justice David Jackson said an affidavit sworn by Mr Palmer and filed on Tuesday raised concerns about alleged "apprehended bias" based on communication between other judges, and was seeking he disqualify himself from hearing the case.

There was no explanation in the affidavit as to why Mr Palmer hadn't raised any concerns about the issue earlier, given it originated from comments made in a Western Australian court in August 2016, Justice Jackson said.