Frontline closes a record quarter on elevated tanker earnings
Frontline reported its strongest quarter on record, with 659.2 million dollars of profit and 943.3 million dollars of revenue in the second quarter of 2026. Average daily VLCC spot earnings reached 152,700 dollars. The company says disruption across energy markets supports tanker utilisation, while talks over safe passage through Hormuz are the clearest reported development that could change those operating conditions.
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VLCC earnings carry the quarter
Frontline reported second-quarter 2026 profit of 659.2 million dollars, or 2.96 dollars a share, the highest quarterly profit in its history. Revenue reached 943.3 million dollars. Average daily spot earnings were 152,700 dollars for VLCCs, 111,500 dollars for Suezmax tankers and 92,400 dollars for LR2 and Aframax vessels. The results showed that elevated pricing led by large crude carriers also translated into strong daily income across the other parts of the fleet.[1]
New charters carry revenue forward
The company declared a dividend of 2.61 dollars a share. In July, Frontline agreed to sell 2 VLCCs built in 2017 for 270.0 million dollars, earmarking about 179.0 million dollars of the proceeds for a one-off dividend of 0.80 dollars a share. It chartered out 2 newly delivered VLCCs for 1 year at 120,000 dollars a day. Another 2 vessels built in 2016 received contracts lasting 2 and 3 years, at daily rates of 90,000 dollars and 75,000 dollars respectively.[1]
Safe-passage talks reach the operating backdrop
Frontline chief executive Lars H. Barstad said strains across the energy complex were supporting tanker utilisation and that the need to replenish oil inventories should create favourable conditions for the sector. Against that operating backdrop, Qatar's prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani travelled to Tehran in search of a way out of the US-Iran conflict. AP News reported that the talks covered de-escalation as well as an Iran-Oman proposal for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz and mine clearance along the commercial waterway.[1], [2]
