Euronav has taken on a $100m loan to boost liquidity ahead of new IMO 2020 emissions standards.
Chief executive Hugo de Stoop disclosed the credit facility during the Belgian shipowner's second-quarter conference call.
He said it would be used for "preparation for IMO 2020 and in particular our fuelling strategy for our fleet”.
Euronav will host an IMO 2020 seminar in early September to brief investors on its plans.
"Euronav leverage remains amongst the lowest in sector and we have no outstanding [capital expenditure] links to newbuildings,” the executive said.
TradeWinds reported earlier this year Euronav planned to employ its two giant ULCCs to store fuel as part of its plans to meet the new legislation.
Earlier this month, the company reportedly moved one of the 441,561-dwt ULCC Oceania (built 2003) to Spain to get more fuel before setting sail for Malaysia.
It also sold the 305,000-dwt VK Eddie (built 2005) for $38.5m for conversion into a floating production, storage and offloading vessel.
De Stoop's predecessor, Paddy Rodgers, was an outspoken critic of scrubbers, which bring down the sulphur content of emissions from currently standard fuel to IMO-approved levels.
TradeWinds understands that there is to be no dramatic change in Euronav's approach to the IMO 2020 issue when the September briefing comes.
It is understood Euronav has signed the new loan with core European lenders to further strengthen its finances at a time the whole industry is headed into uncharted waters.
In May, de Stoop told TradeWinds that Euronav's stance on scrubbers has not changed since Rodgers' surprise departure in February.
In June, he told attendees at Marine Money Week in New York that Euronav were simply “scrubber watchers”.
“What we have always said about scrubbers is the risk/rewards are not really attractive, and we prefer to wait and see if the spread will stabilise next year,” he said in May.
For the second quarter, the tanker giant posted a $39m loss, just beating the $40m loss consensus.
The company, like others in the tanker sector, is expecting a rally in tanker rates for the second half of 2019 — brought on by the IMO 2020 standards set to kick in 1 January.
Thursday, Euronav shares were down $0.08 to $7.89.
