Scorpio Tankers sells two LR2 product tankers for $131m
- Scorpio sells 2019-built tankers as the company aims to mitigate debt
- Owner is capitalising on narrowing LR2 newbuilding and secondary market gap
- Net debt falls 245% from June 30, 2025 pro forma
Scorpio also reduced its stake in tanker owner DHT Holdings
NEW YORK-listed tanker owner Scorpio Tankers has sold two long range two product tankers at $61.2m per vessel.
The two scrubber-fitted, 11,000 dwt product tankers, STI Lobelia (IMO: 9838228) and STI Lavender (IMO: 9838254), were built in 2019. The sale of these vessels to undisclosed buyers is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Chief executive Emanuele Lauro referred to the sale as having the “dual benefit of capitalising on cyclically high secondhand vessel values, while further strengthening our balance sheet”.
Valuations of secondary market tankers have been on the rise in recent months. Shipyards have been backed with new orders of containerships, leaving limited capacity to construct newbuilding tankers.
This has forced tanker operators to look at secondary markets, supporting prices there.
Baltic Exchange’s LR2 Product Carrier Newbuilding Assessment indicates a fairly stable market, with a slight decline of 4% in newbuilding prices year on year. According to the index, a newbuild LR2 tanker would have cost $71m on October 1, 2024.
According to a September 5, 2025 assessment, it now costs $68m to purchase a newbuilding, an 11.5% premium over the secondary vessel transacted in this deal.
The $61.2m valuation is also aligned with data from Fearnleys Weekly Report, assessing a five-year-old LR2 vessel at $62.5m. It also assessed a newbuilding aframax at $68m.
Lauro attributed the sale to being part of the company’s wider deleveraging strategy, stating that the firm’s “net debt could reach zero in the near future”.
Scorpio also reduced its stake in New York-listed very large crude carrier operator DHT Holdings, selling 4,778,000 common shares at an average price of $12.50 per share.
The company owns a remaining 4,054,480 common shares.
Scorpio’s net debt stood at $131m on a pro-forma basis as of September 25, 2025, a 245% reduction from June 30, 2025.
This change in debt includes the sale of 2020-built, scrubber-fitted MR product tanker STI Maestro (IMO: 9854727) for $42m, in addition to the sale of the two LR2 tankers.
It also includes the exercise of purchase options on STI Guard (IMO: 9717101) and STI Gallantry (IMO: 9712876), which are set to be purchased in December 2025, and STI Symphony (IMO: 9719692) in February 2026.
The aggregate outstanding lease obligation on these vessels is $67.8m.
