Paddy Rodgers, chief executive of Euronav, says the sector is "absolutely an interesting area".

Speaking on the owner's second quarter conference call, Rodgers said: "I know that we have been headline grabbing on VLCC acquisitions.

"It's not because we don’t care for the [suezmax] sector, we have just not seen the right transaction at the right pricing.

"We are definitely looking at a lot of different projects. The [suezmax] fleet’s in great condition even though its ageing and in fact one of the great highlights at the end of the first quarter was putting three of out 1998 built ships onto three year charters.

"We are able to employ them fully so we are not concerned about our earning capacity but its definitely an area we are looking to do some expansion."

New York-listed Euronav booked a strong second quarter profit today and its quarterly report stated it was looking to “regularly rejuvenate” its fleet.

“We do see the need for ‘rejuvenation’ being higher for the suezmax fleet which is older than the VLCC fleet,” said Erik Nikolai Stavseth of Arctic Securities.

No suezmax buys since 2006

Euronav has 23 suezmaxes, of which four are in a joint-venture, in addition to 27 VLCCs on the water.

Of the VLs, 19 of the trading ships have been purchased since the start of 2014 in two separate deals with Maersk Tankers.

 

Its VLCC fleet will reach 31 when four newbuildings purchased from Metrostar this year are delivered.

Data from VesselsValue.com shows that Euronav has not purchased a second hand suezmax on its own since 2006, when the 158,800-dwt Cap Felix and Cape Theodora (both built 2008) were bought from Gedan as resales.

Those came just over a year after the company bought 13 suezmaxes from Norway’s Grieg Star in a fleet deal.

A boost for the stock

Euronav recorded a profit of $92.4m in the three months to the end of June.

“The second quarter results were strong, with net profit 6% above consensus on higher revenue,” said Nicolay Dyvik, Oyvind Berle and Petter Haugen of DNB Markets.

“Euronav has booked 50% of its spot VLCC third quarter earnings above $60,000 per day – below DHT’s $81,000 per day but above our current $50,000 per day forecast, which should trigger positive revenue estimate revisions.

“We expect the shares to be up 2% to 3% on the back of the second quarter beat.”

Amit Mehrotraof Deutsche Bank notes the quarter saw the company’s second best core operating profit ever.

“There’s really nothing in the results we can pick at, which is unusual for us,” the analyst said in a report.