Vitol is a Swiss-based
multinational energy and
commodity trading
A commodity market is a market that trades in the primary economic sector rather than manufactured products, such as cocoa, fruit and sugar. Hard commodities are mined, such as gold and oil. Futures contracts are the oldest way of investing ...
company that was founded in
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...
in 1966 by Henk Viëtor and Jacques Detiger.
[ Though trading, logistics and distribution are at the core of its business, these are complemented by refining, shipping, terminals, exploration and production, power generation, and retail businesses. Vitol has 40 offices worldwide and its largest operations are in ]Geneva
, neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier
, website = https://www.geneve.ch/
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...
, Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...
, London, and Singapore.
With revenues of $279 billion in 2021, Vitol is the largest independent energy trader in the world, and would be the sixth largest company worldwide as measured by revenue on the ''Fortune'' Global 500 list. Given the secrecy Vitol maintains around all its business activities and the limited nature of its statutory disclosures, it is excluded from rankings. The company, however, does provide some more financial information to its lenders and to a few other entities with which it trades. The company ships more than 350 million tonnes of crude oil per year and controls 250 supertankers and other vessels to move it around the world. On average it handles more than 7.6 million barrels a day of oil and products - roughly equivalent to the daily consumption of Japan - the world's fourth largest oil consumer after the United States, China, and India.
Vitol is a privately held company by about 400 partners who are current and former employees, who are known for their intense culture of privacy and secrecy from both competitors and the general public. It is reported that Vitol made a payout of $2.9 billion to all its partners in 2021.
Activities
Trading
In addition to the global crude and product trading businesses, the company trades coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when ...
, natural gas
Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...
, power, ethanol
Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl group linked to a ...
, methanol, gasoline
Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organi ...
, LNG
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volu ...
, LPG, naphtha
Naphtha ( or ) is a flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixture.
Mixtures labelled ''naphtha'' have been produced from natural gas condensates, petroleum distillates, and the distillation of coal tar and peat. In different industries and regions ' ...
, bitumen, base oils and carbon emissions.
Terminals and infrastructure
In total, Vitol has around 16 million cubic meters of storage capacity across the globe.
Vitol (45% stake), along with IFM Investors (45% stake) and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (10% stake), own VTTI B.V., a storage and terminals business with a capacity of around 8.7 million cubic meters (MCM) in 11 countries: Netherlands (1.328 MCM + 1.118 MCM), Latvia (1.195 MCM), UAE (1.180 MCM), Belgium (0.965 MCM), Malaysia (0.893 MCM), Cyprus (0.544 MCM), USA (0.452 MCM), Argentina (0.218 MCM), Kenya (0.111 MCM), Russia (0.049 MCM), Nigeria (0.016 MCM). MISC Berhad
MISC Berhad () was incorporated in 1968 as Malaysia International Shipping Corporation Berhad and is the leading international shipping line of Malaysia. In September 2005, Malaysia International Shipping Corporation Berhad adopted its present c ...
held a 50% stake in VTTI from May 2010 until August 2015. In April 2022, Vitol announced its intention to stop trading Russian petrol by the end of 2022 due to International sanctions during the Russo-Ukrainian War
International sanctions have been imposed against Russia and Crimea during the Russo-Ukrainian War by a large number of countries, including the United States, Canada, the European Union, and international organisations following the Russi ...
.
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.
Refining
In addition to offices in Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...
and Bahrain
Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...
, 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 meter tank farm. FRCL has further development plans in place, which include a 140,000 cubic meter expansion of the tank farm, refurbishment of existing refining units and the installation of additional processing units. Vitol also has invested in refining assets in Bayernoil (Germany), Cressier (Switzerland), Antwerp (Belgium) and the Geelong refinery near Melbourne (Australia). In 2018, Vitol bought the 85,000 barrel per day Rotterdam Condensate Splitter from Koch Industries
Koch Industries, Inc. ( ) is an American privately held multinational conglomerate corporation based in Wichita, Kansas and is the second-largest privately held company in the United States, after Cargill. Its subsidiaries are involved in the ...
.
Exploration and production
Vitol, through its wholly owned subsidiaries Arawak Energy Limited and Vitol E&P, has interests in various exploration and production projects worldwide. Arawak Energy is mainly focused on the FSU where it produces oil and gas in Ukraine, Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
and Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...
, while Vitol E&P holds a portfolio of exploration and development assets along the West African Transform Margin in Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
and the Ivory Coast.
In February 2014, it was reported that Vitol, in concert with the Abu Dhabi Investment Council
The Abu Dhabi Investment Council (The Council) is an investment arm of the Government of Abu Dhabi. It started operations in April 2007 and is responsible for investing part of the government's surplus financial resources through a globally dive ...
, had bought the downstream businesses of Shell Australia
Shell Australia is the Australian subsidiary of Shell. Shell has operated in Australia since 1901, initially delivering bulk fuel into Australia, then establishing storage and distribution terminals, oil refineries, and a network of service sta ...
(excluding aviation) for a total of approximately AU$2.9 billion. The purchase included Shell's Geelong Refinery and its 870-site retail business, along with its bulk fuels, bitumen, chemicals and part of its lubricants businesses in Australia. The business trades as Viva Energy
Viva Energy () is an Australian company that owns the Geelong Oil Refinery and retails Shell-branded fuels across Australia under a license agreement. It also owns and retails Liberty Oil and Woodside Petroleum-branded service stations. In total ...
, although the Shell brand remains on many of its retail products.
Further in January 2015, Vitol in collaboration with Eni signed a $7 billion agreement with the government, for the production of oil and gas at Cape Three Points in Western Region of Ghana
The Western Region is located in south Ghana, spreads from the Ivory Coast (Comoé District) in the west to the Central region in the east, includes the capital and large twin city of Sekondi-Takoradi on the coast, coastal Axim, and a hilly inl ...
. The contract is expected to help meet Ghana's burgeoning energy needs.
Aviation
Vitol Aviation is focused on Europe, North America and Africa, serving the world’s largest airlines and military customers with 5.7 million tonnes of jet fuel a year into wing.
Power
In 2013, Vitol invested in its first power plant, VPI Immingham in the UK. The combined heat and power plant (CHP) is one of the largest of its kind in Europe, capable of generating 1,240 MW and up to 930 tonnes of steam per hour which is used by nearby refineries. The gas-fired plant provides approximately 2.5% of UK peak electricity demand.
Renewable
In 2021 Vitol had 1.2 GW of renewable power generation currently operational, planned & with further investments across the energy spectrum.
Figures
In 2018, Vitol traded:
* Oil: 367 million tonnes of crude oil and product sales
* Natural Gas: over 20 billion cubic meters of physical gas globally
* LPG: 14 million tonnes
* Naphtha: 15 million tonnes
* Gasoline: 1 million barrels of physical gasoline traded per day
* Coal: over 30 million tonnes
* Power: 93 TWh of power sales contracted
* Carbon: 49 mm tonnes of contracted carbon volume
* Methanol: 1.4 million tonnes
* Chemicals: 4 million tonnes (Benzene and Paraxylene)
Controversies
A 2001 article in The Observer
An observer is one who engages in observation or in watching an experiment.
Observer may also refer to:
Computer science and information theory
* In information theory, any system which receives information from an object
* State observer in co ...
stated that in 1995 Vitol had secretly paid US$1 million to Serbian war criminal Arkan
Željko Ražnatović (, ; 17 April 1952 – 15 January 2000), better known as Arkan (), was a Serbian mobster, politician, sports administrator, paramilitary commander and head of the Serb paramilitary force called the Serb Volunteer Guard duri ...
to settle a deal with a Serbian Oil company, Orion. Vitol has denied all charges, arguing that no government agency has ever prosecuted the company in this respect.
In 2007, Vitol pleaded guilty to grand larceny
Larceny is a crime involving the unlawful taking or theft of the personal property of another person or business. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of Eng ...
in a New York court for paying surcharges to Iraq's national oil company during Saddam's regime and circumventing the UN oil-for-food program. Vitol subsequently paid $17.5 million in restitution for its actions.
According to an article in the Financial Times, Vitol was the company to organise the first controversial sale of Libyan rebel oil to Tesoro Corporation
Tesoro Corporation, known briefly as Andeavor, was a Fortune 100 and a Fortune Global 500 company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, with 2017 annual revenues of $35 billion, and over 14,000 employees worldwide. Based on 2017 revenue, the comp ...
in early April 2011. According to the ''Financial Times'', the company was approached by the Qatari national oil company to sell a cargo of crude oil supplied by the Libyans in exchange for technological supplies and fuel for the National Transitional Council of Libya.
In September 2012, an article in ''Reuters'' alleged that the company had bought and sold Iranian fuel oil, bypassing an EU embargo against Tehran. Vitol bought 2 million barrels using a ship-to-ship transfer off the coast of Malaysia from a National Iranian Tanker Company
The National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC, fa, شرکت ملی نفتکش ایران, ''Shirkat-e Mili-ye Nuftekâshi-ye Iran'') is a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company, which was privatized in 2009. As of 2011, NITC was owned by fu ...
vessel and sold it to Chinese traders. The article stated that as Vitol is based in Switzerland, which did not implement Western sanctions, Vitol had skirted the charges.
In 2013, The Telegraph alleged that the company had been using, for over a decade, an Employee Benefit Trust, avoiding paying income tax for its UK staff.
In 2018, The Dispute Settlement and Sanctions Committee of CRE, the French Energy Regulatory Commission, fined VITOL S.A. €5 million for engaging in market manipulation
In economics and finance, market manipulation is a type of market abuse where there is a deliberate attempt to interfere with the free and fair operation of the market; the most blatant of cases involve creating false or misleading appearances ...
on the French Southern virtual Gas Trading Point (“PEG Sud”) between 1 June 2013 and 31 March 2014. Vitol appealed this decision, but the French Council of State confirmed the sanction in June 2021.
In 2020, Vitol Inc. agreed to pay a combined total criminal penalty of $135 million to resolve bribery charges with law enforcement authorities in the United States and Brazil. The resolution arises out of Vitol schemes to pay bribes to officials in Brazil, Ecuador and Mexico.
Vitol Asia Pte Ltd
Vitol Asia Pte Ltd operates as an energy and commodities company, and offers refining, trading, shipping, and storage of crude oil and energy products.
The company was founded in April 1990 and is headquartered in Singapore. The CEO is Hui Meng Kho.
References
External links
* {{official website, http://vitol.com/
Oil and gas companies of Switzerland
Oil traders
Swiss brands