Greece's Okeanis Eco Tankers has made its case for an upturn in fortunes later this year, despite the second quarter shaping up to be even worse than the first three months.

The Oslo-listed owner of VLCCs, suezmaxes and LR2s said rates remain depressed in a market still "fundamentally long on ships".

But the company added that asset values have risen significantly in anticipation of market recovery and supported by strong time-charter levels.

Okeanis is pointing to an imminent production rise of 2.1m barrels per day from Opec nations, which will be the biggest six-month jump in supply ever.

And Okeanis said the rebalancing of the global oil market is "almost complete despite demand headwinds from India and Brazil".

Chinese maintenance to end

This will coincide with the end of heavy Chinese refinery maintenance, with runs set to "increase substantially" from July onwards, the owner added.

The Okeanis fleet saw time charter equivalent earnings drop 54% in the first quarter to $26,100 per day.

VLCCs achieved $32,000 per day, down from $59,200 a year ago.

The figure for suezmaxes was $22,000 per day, versus $63,700 per day in the first quarter of 2020, while the aframax-size LR2s managed $18,600 per day, down from $35,200 per day.

Rates still going down

And the fall is continuing into the second quarter.

Okeanis has booked 90% of its available VLCC spot days at only $15,000 per day.

For suezmaxes, this figure is $18,600 for 47% of the days, and the LR2s have been fixed at $16,600 for 65% of fleet days.

Net profit declined to $7.3m in the first three months, against $41.1m a year ago.

Revenue dropped to $48m, down from $90.5m.

Operating expenses per ship were $7,506 per day.

Longer voyages

The company said it had fixed its only spot VLCC on longer West Africa to China and Brazil to China voyages in the quarter to secure coverage and maximise the eco and scrubber benefits of the vessel.

The sector remained depressed on low cargo counts.

Suezmaxes were booked cross-Mediterranean or from there to Asia to capture an improvement in rates.

On 12 May, Okeanis confirmed the sale of three LR2s to Torm for $120.75m, and will book a a non-cash accounting charge of $11m in the second quarter.

However, profit from the deal is $45m. The fleet now stands at 17 ships.