Euronav executive committee member Brian Gallagher has praised the company’s two biggest backers, John Fredriksen and the Saverys family, as having more in common than shareholders in most other companies.

The Belgian tanker owner’s head of investor relations was speaking at a Capital Link seminar on crude vessels in London when the talk turned to consolidation.

The panel constituted a Who’s Who of discord in the sector, with Gallagher sitting next to Frontline chief executive Lars Barstad.