Even creating the world’s biggest crude tanker company will not move the dial in terms of market power, Clarksons Platou Securities believes.

Frontline and Euronav are working on a $4.2bn tie-up that will bring together nearly 150 ships.

The all-share deal will give the combined operation 8.1% of the VLCC market with 69 vessels, the Norwegian investment bank calculates.

On the suezmax side, the market share is 9.3%