Increased Opec production cause for optimism says Hafnia

HAFNIA recorded a profit of $75.3m in the second quarter of 2025, which while well down on 2024’s $259.2m, still represents a strong result for the Oslo and New York-listed clean product specialist.

Chief executive Mikael Skov said Opec production cuts boosted refinery throughput, generating positive momentum for product tanker demand.

At the same time, Skov said a “significant number” of long range two vessels had moved to trading in the crude market, which was a further boost to product tanker rates.

He said he expected Hafnia’s strong performance to continue into the third quarter, “influenced by our current bookings and solid market conditions”.

Hafnia vice president Soren Winther said volumes of clean product on the water sat above the four-year average, supporting market resilience.

Despite nearly 150 product tankers being sanctioned this year, the amount of clean product transported on sanctioned tonnage decreased by 17% so far in 2025.

The other potential threat to the clean tanker market is cannibalisation. But where previously cannibalisation involved large vessels cleaning up and repositioning west of Suez, Winther explained, in 2025 cannibalisation had largely resulted from newbuildings.

Limited newbuilding deliveries in the back end of 2025 means Winther expects cannibalisation for the rest of the year to be “minimal”.

That increase in sanctioned tonnage and vessels turning 20 years of age has limited any gains in supply from newbuilding deliveries, as well as 28 out of 37 LR2 newbuildings shifting into the aframax trade so far this year.

Skov said his company was “encouraged by the ongoing strength of the product tanker market, driven by strong demand and solid fundamentals”.

“I believe Hafnia is well-positioned for the future,” he said.