New York-listed Scorpio has placed a series of up to eight medium range (MR) tankers at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard (HMD) alongside a potential handymax octet, its quarterly report said.
As TradeWinds was first to report in the past week, both series contain two firm vessels and options for up to six more.
Scorpio says it will pay $34.5m for the MRs and $32.5m for the smaller tankers.
"Based on management's commentary we once thought newbuilding orders to be a less attractive option relative to near-term deliveries or on-the-water acquisitions," said Spiro Dounis of UBS.
"However, Scorpio's decision to place four new orders with the potential for an additional 12 appears to indicate management's outlook for product tankers has only improved from already strong levels."
The order was disclosed as Scorpio booked a profit of $57.5m in the three months to the end of June, overturning an $11.2m loss at this stage in 2014.
Its adjusted earnings per share edged ahead of Wall Street projections by a couple of cents.
Profit in the first half of the year has reached $96.8m, a swing of over $100m from the $9.4m red figure at the half way-point in 2014.
The report also mentioned a $142.2m term loan, running for 15 years, with ABN AMRO and DVB to help pay for four LR2s.
"With the market strong and Scorpio's substantial newbuild program winding down, the company is generating strong cash flow currently," said Noah Parquette of JP Morgan.
"The deployment of that cash flow has been balanced between dividends, share repurchases, and vessel acquisitions. Given the recent activity, we believe management is leaning more towards growth at this point."
