If Lars Barstad has a favourite day, 9 September might be in the running.

Historically, that is the day the tanker market starts to pull itself out of its annual summer swoon to begin capitalising on the seasonally stronger second half, the Frontline chief executive told Pareto Securities’ Energy Conference, citing research from his own company.

“That’s just statistics, but there are two things that gives us confidence here,” he said in Oslo on Thursday.