diff --git a/src/ert/config/ert_config.py b/src/ert/config/ert_config.py
index 1ce9b13d0a6..7eb1b0b2f4c 100644
--- a/src/ert/config/ert_config.py
+++ b/src/ert/config/ert_config.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 import copy
 import logging
 import os
+import re
 from collections import defaultdict
 from collections.abc import Sequence
 from dataclasses import field
@@ -70,6 +71,8 @@
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
+EMPTY_LINES = re.compile(r"\n[\s\n]*\n")
+
 
 def site_config_location() -> str | None:
     if "ERT_SITE_CONFIG" in os.environ:
@@ -609,8 +612,8 @@ def _log_config_dict(cls, content_dict: dict[str, Any]) -> None:
     @classmethod
     def _log_custom_forward_model_steps(cls, user_config: ConfigDict) -> None:
         for fm_step, fm_step_filename in user_config.get(ConfigKeys.INSTALL_JOB, []):
-            fm_configuration = (
-                Path(fm_step_filename).read_text(encoding="utf-8").strip()
+            fm_configuration = EMPTY_LINES.sub(
+                "\n", (Path(fm_step_filename).read_text(encoding="utf-8").strip())
             )
             logger.info(
                 f"Custom forward_model_step {fm_step} installed as: {fm_configuration}"
diff --git a/tests/ert/unit_tests/config/test_ert_config.py b/tests/ert/unit_tests/config/test_ert_config.py
index 05dac456989..e81f1455fca 100644
--- a/tests/ert/unit_tests/config/test_ert_config.py
+++ b/tests/ert/unit_tests/config/test_ert_config.py
@@ -182,14 +182,16 @@ def test_custom_forward_models_are_logged(caplog):
     Path(localhack).write_text("", encoding="utf-8")
     st = os.stat(localhack)
     os.chmod(localhack, st.st_mode | stat.S_IEXEC)
-    Path("foo_fm").write_text(f"EXECUTABLE {localhack}", encoding="utf-8")
+    Path("foo_fm").write_text(
+        f"-- A comment\n   \nEXECUTABLE {localhack}\n\n\n", encoding="utf-8"
+    )
     Path("config.ert").write_text(
         "NUM_REALIZATIONS 1\nINSTALL_JOB foo_fm foo_fm", encoding="utf-8"
     )
     with caplog.at_level(logging.INFO):
         ErtConfig.from_file("config.ert")
     assert (
-        f"Custom forward_model_step foo_fm installed as: EXECUTABLE {localhack}"
+        f"Custom forward_model_step foo_fm installed as: -- A comment\nEXECUTABLE {localhack}"
         in caplog.messages
     )
     assert (