New York-listed Scorpio Tankers has returned to profit after reducing costs in the first quarter.
Net earnings to 31 March were $14.47m, against a loss of $31.79m in 2018.
Revenue grew to $195.83m from $156.44m.
But it cut operating costs to $135.73m from $149.12m over the same period.
This was due to charter hire expenses being slashed.
So far in the second quarter, its LR2s are earning $16,500 per day, with LR1s at $15,750 and MRs at $15,000.
This compares to $22,923, $17,929 and $15,715 respectively in the first quarter.
Scorpio said: "The company is in discussions with various financial institutions for scrubber financing that will increase the company’s liquidity by approximately $120m."
Thumbs up from DB
Analyst Amit Mehrotra at Deutsche Bank (DB) said EBITDA of $113m topped its $101m forecast and consensus of $99m.
He added that the spot fleet quickly realised firming day rates.
"We also see realised rates coming in ahead of benchmarks...which speaks to STNG's successful commercial strategies," he said.
Mehrotra said that despite macro headwinds in Q1, namely OPEC cuts and a concentrated spring refinery maintenance schedule, STNG doubled its EBITDA year on year, with the company posting the strongest quarterly mark since 2015.
"We are encouraged by the resiliency shown by product tanker rates YTD which we believe speaks to underlying tightness in the market," he added.
"We expect the aforementioned headwinds will become tailwinds in the back half with refinery throughput rising above normal seasonality as the industry preps for IMO 2020."
DB also expects IMO 2020 will create "new trade lanes and storage opportunities for product tankers, adding an extra layer of demand."
