VLCC rates have been holding steady so far this month due to one-off factors on the tonnage supply side.

But a fall is still viewed as inevitable when stored oil starts to move off anchored tankers, Fearnley Securities said.

"The VLCC market continues like a clock set at Worldscale 60, which it has been doing for all of June so far," said analysts Espen Landmark Fjermestad, Peder Nicolai Jarlsby and Ulrik Mannhart.