LONDON (Bloomberg) - Supertanker demand may pick up after the biggest weekly drop in charter rates since July, according to Jens Martin Jensen, chief executive officer of Frontline Ltd.'s management company.

"There's been some weakness in the last week because some owners got nervous," Mr. Jensen said by phone from Oslo on Friday. "We are quite confident there will be more activity."

Charter rates for shipping Saudi Arabian crude to Japan fell 22 percent this week to 91.72 Worldscale points. Frontline is the world's biggest operator of supertankers. Supertankers are capable to ship two million barrels of crude oil.

"There's still a lot of cargoes left for February," Mr. Jensen said. "Overall the rate should be better than 2009" and charter rates this year will surpass present levels from time to time, he said.