Navig8 Group has batted away talk it has expanded its product tanker orderbook at New Times in China.
Shipbrokers are connecting the London-headquartered group with a move for four extra medium range vessels.
Some market sources say IMO numbers have been issued for the 50,000-dwt quartet, which would take the Navig8 MR orderbook at New Times to 12 tankers.
A spokesperson for Navig8 flatly denied it had inked further newbuildings at New Times when contacted by TradeWinds this week.
As reported in these pages, Navig8 built up a fleet of 16 product tankers in China, split evenly between the LR2 and MR markets.
The LR2 project was finally confirmed this summer with the delivery of the first scrubber-fitted newbuilding to a new vehicle called Navig8 Product 2020.
Navig8 will take delivery of eight MR tankers from New Times in 2019.
Some believe the extra vessels now being touted could be options attached to the initial contract.
Navig8 built up fleets in the VLCC, product tanker and chemical sectors with the use of the Norwegian capital markets earlier this decade.
Navig8 Crude, the VLCC vehicle, was merged with General Maritime, with the combined company Gener8 later taken over by Euronav.
Fellow Oslo over the counter listed vehicle Navig8 Product Tankers was purchased by Scorpio Tankers in 2017. Navig8 Chemical remains listed on the junior market in Oslo.
