Latest news with #Vitol
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Vitol staff handed record $10.6bn payout
Vitol handed a record $10.6bn to its senior employees through share buybacks last year after a period of unrivalled growth for the world's Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
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Business Standard
19 hours ago
- Business
- Business Standard
Vitol hands record $10.6 bn payout to its traders in energy boom year
By Jack Farchy and Archie Hunter Vitol Group handed a record $10.6 billion to its executives and senior staff through share buybacks last year, as the fallout of the energy crisis continued to deliver extraordinary riches to the world's commodity traders. The share repurchase — almost certainly the highest such payout in the industry's history — means privately held Vitol has distributed over $31 billion to its partners in the past decade, according to the company's audited annual accounts seen by Bloomberg News. The numbers show how the disruptions that followed Russia's invasion of Ukraine have handed a spectacular bonanza to a small group of commodity traders that their predecessors could only have dreamed of. Vitol has paid out more through buybacks in the past three years than in the previous 17 years combined. Still, the huge payout comes as earnings are moderating across the industry. Vitol's buyback in 2024 outstripped its profit for the year, meaning that the group's equity dropped from $32.5 billion at the end of 2023 to $30.7 billion at the end of 2024. There's a similar trend taking place across the largest commodity trading companies, many of which operate as employee-owned partnerships, particularly as senior executives who have accumulated valuable shareholdings retire. At Vitol, executive board members including Chris Bake, the company's longtime head of origination, Mike Muller, head of Asia, and Gerard Delsad, head of the Geneva office, have all recently announced their retirement. In a management report, Vitol said that it had spent a further $1.7 billion on buybacks so far in 2025, as of June. A Vitol spokesperson didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. The share buybacks are paid on top of salaries and bonuses. Vitol's personnel expense amounted to $2.1 billion in 2024, down 10% from the previous year, according to the accounts. The company says on its website it has over 1,800 employees. As well as the bumper payouts, commodity trading houses are also re-investing a portion of their mega profits into assets, from oil wells and refineries to renewables. In 2024, Vitol bought Italian refiner Saras SpA as well as coal trader Noble Resources Trading Ltd. In 2025, it has announced a $1.65 billion deal to buy oil and liquefied natural gas projects from Eni SpA in Ivory Coast and the Republic of Congo. Vitol and several of its energy trading rivals have also embarked on an aggressive expansion into metals over the past year. Also in 2024, according to the accounts, Vitol reduced its shareholding in Vitol Bahrain, which has long been a key entity for its deals in the Middle East, from 100% to 11%. It also reorganized its shareholding in VPI, the UK power generation unit whose activities have drawn scrutiny as prices soared, maintaining a 25% stake through a Jersey holding company.
Arab News
6 days ago
- Business
- Arab News
South Sudan faces legal battle in London amid oil debt crisis, political turmoil
LONDON: Trading house BB Energy has filed a case against South Sudan in London for failing to deliver oil owed under a pre-payment deal, according to court filings and a company spokesperson. One of the poorest countries in the world, South Sudan has endured two civil wars in the past 15 years and is grappling with increased debt and a shaky peace deal. In March, the government placed its petroleum minister, as well as other officials, under house arrest. BB Energy DMCC filed the case last month, court records showed. A company spokesperson told Reuters the action was necessary to preserve BB Energy's rights under a contract with the Ministry of Petroleum. "As yet, they have defaulted on delivery," the spokesperson said. "We are currently in the process of serving formal proceedings; however we are always looking to find an amicable solution, especially considering our long-term interests in the country." Officials in South Sudan did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the case. Oil trader Vitol also filed a case against South Sudan in London in May, but said it had since resolved the issue. Sources told Reuters that case related to a single cancelled oil cargo. In May, a London court ordered South Sudan to pay Afreximbank $657 million over defaulted loans. The IMF pegged South Sudan's total public debt at $3.7 billion as of 2023, with $550 million of the total owed to oil companies. At its peak before the civil war, South Sudan's crude oil production stood at 350,000 to 400,000 barrels per day, but that tumbled to just 72,000 bpd last year, according to OPEC data, after a damaged oil pipeline halted exports. The pipeline resumed operations in June, and the country pumped 138,000 bpd that month.
Zawya
17-07-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Qatar hikes August term price for al-Shaheen oil to 4-month high, sources say
SINGAPORE: QatarEnergy has raised the August term price for al-Shaheen crude oil to its highest premium in four months, according to three trade sources. The premium for August-loading al-Shaheen crude rose to $2.48 a barrel above Dubai quotes. The producer sold all five cargoes to TotalEnergies. The jump in premiums followed increases in Middle East crude benchmarks Dubai and Oman as fighting broke out between Israel and Iran last week, raising concerns of supply disruptions in the key producing region. Last month, QatarEnergy sold July-loading al-Shaheen crude to companies including Vitol and set the term premium at $1.63 a barrel. (Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
Time of India
16-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
GAIL signs pact to buy 1 million tonnes LNG from Vitol Asia
State-owned GAIL (India) Ltd has signed a gas sales and purchase agreement (GSPA) to buy 1 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Vitol Asia Pte Ltd for 10 years starting 2026. The GSPA follows a binding term sheet signed in January 2024, GAIL said in a statement. "Under the agreement, Vitol will deliver LNG to GAIL from its global LNG portfolio," it said. Speaking on the occasion, GAIL Director (Marketing) Sanjay Kumar said the company is expanding its long-term LNG portfolio to meet demand growth. "We are pleased to partner with Vitol Asia Pte Ltd, and this agreement represents a key milestone in reinforcing GAIL's capability to reliably serve its diverse and evolving customer base." Jay Ng, Chief Financial Officer, Vitol Asia and Executive Committee member, said the growing Indian market is core to Vitol's strategy and its diversified portfolio enables it to offer India a stable supply of cleaner and competitive energy. India emerged as the world's fourth-largest LNG importer in 2024, with demand expected to rise steadily over the next decade. The government has set an ambitious target to increase the share of natural gas in the country's primary energy mix from the current 6 per cent to 15 per cent by 2030. Supporting this vision, India's LNG regasification capacity has seen substantial growth, nearly doubling from 21 million tonnes per annum in 2014. While GAIL is India's largest natural gas transmission and distribution company, Vitol is a trader in energy and commodities.
