LONDON (Bloomberg) — Frontline Ltd., the world’s second- largest oil-tanker operator, may post its first quarterly profit increase in one and a half years after rising crude prices and the prospect of hurricanes bolstered oil shipments.Net income rose 61 percent to $118.3 million, or $1.62 a share, in the three months to September 30, from $73.8 million, or 99 cents a share a year earlier, according to the median average of nine analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The company, based in Hamilton, Bermuda, will report earnings today.

Frontline, like rivals Euronav NV and OMI Corp., benefited from increased demand from US refiners concerned that Gulf of Mexico storms and Middle East tension would interrupt oil supplies. About 260 million barrels of oil were shipped from Middle East ports in August, the biggest-ever one-month loading program, Paris-based shipbroker Barry Rogliano Salles said.

“This year was supposed to be the worst hurricane season ever with 80 smaller and larger hurricanes coming into the US and that was definitely positive for Frontline,” said Rikard Vabo, an analyst with Fearnley Fonds ASA in Oslo who has a “reduce” rating on the stock.

Shares of Frontline, in which Norwegian billionaire John Fredriksen holds a 35 percent stake, have dropped 13 percent this year, valuing the company at 17.9 billion Norwegian kroner ($2.85 billion). Shares of OMI have gained 5.6 percent while Euronav’s have risen 1.1 percent over the same period.

Hurricane Katrina damaged rigs in the Gulf of Mexico in August 2005, at one stage stopping the region’s oil production. Output remained down about 1 million barrels a day for months after the storm, forcing refiners to go further afield for supplies.

The rush to secure crude to avoid similar disruption this year pushed US crude oil stocks to 332 million barrels in August, 11 percent higher than the average for the time of year, according to US Department of Energy data.

Frontline operates a fleet of 76 oil tankers, of which 40 specialise in carrying 2 million-barrel consignments typically loaded from Middle East ports. Twenty-four vessels normally transport 1 million-barrel cargoes.

Frontline, in which Fredriksen holds his stake through his Cyprus-based company, Hemen Holdings, operates 40 Very Large Crude Carriers, or VLCCs, of which about a quarter have one layer of steel separating their cargo from the ocean, according to the company’s Web site. Single-hull tankers are normally cheaper to hire than double-hull vessels.

Frontline’s VLCCs probably earned the company $70,000 a day during the quarter, according to John Kartsonas, an analyst at Citigroup Inc. in New York. Supertankers owned by Antwerp-based Euronav, operated by the London-based Tankers International pool, earned $69,500 a day during the third quarter. Tankers International operates the world’s largest pool of crude oil tankers.

In the second quarter, Frontline’s 1 million-barrel ships earned $30,600 a day, underperforming Stamford, Connecticut- based OMI, the second-largest US-based oil tanker company, by almost $15,000 a day.

Frontline’s so-called suezmax-class carriers, which transport up to 1 million barrels at a time, will earn $43,000 from “spot,” or day-to-day bookings, according to Kartsonas. OMI said Oct. 24 that it made $52,356 a day from its suezmaxes.

Frontline’s ships earn less than OMI’s because more than a third of them have one layer of steel separating their cargoes from the sea. Such ships will be banned from 2015 because they carry a greater risk of spillage in the event of an accident.

A quarter of Frontline’s fleet of oil tankers will have to be demolished under the ban, which is being enforced by the International Maritime Organisation, the shipping arm of the United Nations, unless the company upgrades them to double hulls or switches their use.

Storms in the Atlantic basin this year, which included five hurricanes, were at the lowest level since seven formed in 1997, according to Colorado State meteorologists Philip Klotzbach and William Gray. The resulting decline in demand from refiners, left with a glut of oil, has cut freight rates to the Gulf of Mexico by 35 percent since their five-month high on August 14.

“The fourth quarter is much more reflective of what the stock’s going to do,” said Kartsonas, who rates the shares a “sell.” Tankers with a carrying capacity of 28 to 29 million tons, or 213 million barrels, will enter service next year, according to Kartsonas, further hampering Frontline’s performance.

Frontline’s chief executive officer Oscar Spieler quit on August 31 after three years in the job, citing the “stressing” nature of his work.

He was replaced by Bjoern Sjaastad, former CEO of chemical tanker company Odfjell ASA.