Vitol

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Vitol Group of Companies
Type Private
Industry Commodity
Founded 1966 (1966) in Rotterdam[1]
Founder(s) Henk Viëtor[1][2]
.[1][2]
Headquarters Geneva, Switzerland
Area served Global
Key people Ian Taylor, CEO[3]
Services Energy trading, Commodity trading
Revenue Increase US$ 303 billion (2012)
Owner(s) Vitol Holding B.V
Employees 3,200(2012)
Website www.vitol.com

The Vitol Group is a Swiss-based, Dutch-owned multinational energy and commodity trading company. It was founded in Rotterdam in 1966 by Henk Viëtor.[1][2] Vitol's head offices are located in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and Geneva, Switzerland. With 2012 revenues of $303 billion (up from $297 billion in 2011), the company ships more than 400 million tonnes of crude oil per year and is the largest independent energy trader in the world.[4]

Operations

Vitol's main operations are based in Geneva, Houston, Singapore, and London. In addition to the global crude and product trading businesses, the company trades coal, natural gas, power, agricultural products and carbon emissions.[5]

Vitol has interests in various oil storage terminals and exploration and production projects worldwide. The latter includes ownership of Arawak,[4] with production in Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan,[6] and holds a growing portfolio of exploration and development assets in West Africa, including in Cameroon,[7][8] Ghana.[9][10][11] Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Congo Brazzaville.

In addition to its trading business Vitol owns a 50% share in the storage and terminals business, VTTI, which has an asset value in excess of $1 billion and current capacity of around 8.5 million cubic metres in fourteen countries. Current key locations include Amsterdam and Europoort in the Netherlands, Seaport Canaveral, Florida, and a 49% share of the Ventspils terminal in Latvia.[12] In May 2010, MISC Bhd of Malaysia acquired 50% of VTTI for $735 million.[13] In January 2012 Vitol acquired a stake in a subsidiary of the South African shipping firm Grindrod, which gives it access to a coal terminal in Mozambique.[14]

In addition to offices in Dubai and Bahrain, Vitol's key strategic asset in the Middle East is the Fujairah Refinery Company Limited (FRCL), which operates an 82,000 barrel per day refinery and a 1,034,000 cubic metre tank farm. FRCL has further development plans in place, which include a 140,000 cubic metre expansion of the tank farm, refurbishment of existing refining units and the installation of additional processing units.[15] Vitol also has refining assets in Cressier, Switzerland and in Antwerp, Belgium.

Vitol is a private company, with 3,200 employees making up its shareholders.

In 1995, Vitol secretly supplied Slobodan Milošević's government with oil.[16]

Vitol was the company to organise the first, controversial, sale of Libyan rebel oil to Tesoro Corporation in early April 2011.[17]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Meet The Mysterious Trading Firms Who Control The Price Of Commodities". BusinessNews. 2011-10-31. Retrieved 2012-03-04. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Schneyer, Joshua (2011-10-28). "Commodity Traders: The trillion dollar club". Reuters. Retrieved 2012-04-11. 
  3. ↑ "Vitol Holding B.V.: Private Company Information". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 5 January 2012. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Rosco Announces Cash Offer For Arawak". Oil Voice. 2008-10-28. Retrieved 2009-02-09. 
  5. ↑ "Vitol, RNK Capital Complete Inaugural Trade on The Green Exchange" (PDF) (Press release). Evolution Markets Inc. 2008-03-17. Retrieved 2009-02-09. 
  6. ↑ Vitol Website: Vitol in the Former Soviet Union
  7. ↑ http://www.vitol.com/cameroon.html
  8. ↑ http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail.html?announcementId=10672338
  9. ↑ Vitol Group - Silobreaker
  10. ↑ http://www.vitol.com/ghana.html
  11. ↑ http://finance.yahoo.com/news/eni-vitol-ghana-mou-223935417.html
  12. ↑ Vitol is Ready to Invest in Ventspils Nafta, but Expects Support from Latvian Government - The Baltic Course
  13. ↑ MISC buys stake in VTTI for RM2.36bil-Malaysia Star
  14. ↑ Reuters Africa: Vitol buys stake in Grindrod's coal terminal
  15. ↑ "UAE's Fujairah sells refinery stake to Vitol". Reuters. 2007-05-04. Retrieved 2009-02-09. 
  16. ↑ http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/jul/01/balkans.warcrimes2
  17. ↑ Schneyer, Joshua (2011-05-25). "US refiner Tesoro buys cargo of Libyan rebel oil". Reuters. 

External links

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