Introduction to the Top Ten Global Commodity Trading Companies

Target Partners Introduction to the Top Ten Global Commodity Trading Companies Futures Magazine ranked the world’s ten largest commodity trading companies. Their combined total revenue reached $1.9 trillion, with over 526,000 employees worldwide. I. Vitol Group Revenue: $231 billion CEO & President: Russel Hardy Chairman: Ian Taylor Founded: 1966 by Ian Taylor Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland; Rotterdam, Netherlands Listing Status: Privately held Number of Employees: 5,441 Key Traded Commodities: Vitol is the world’s largest physical oil and gas trader, with crude oil constituting the most critical part of its business. The company also trades other commodities, including sugar, metals, and grains. Vitol transports over 350 million tons of crude oil annually and controls more than 250 supertankers and other vessels to deliver crude oil worldwide. On average, it handles over 7 million barrels of oil and petroleum products per day. II. Glencore International 2018 Revenue: $219 billion Founded: Originally established in 1974 as Marc Rich & Co. by Marc Rich Key Executives: Ivan Glasenberg and Tony Hayward Headquarters: Baar, Switzerland; London (oil & gas); Rotterdam (agricultural commodities) Listing Status: Listed on the London Stock Exchange (Ticker: GLEN) Number of Employees: 158,000 Key Traded Commodities: Glencore is one of the world’s largest traders of metals, minerals, and oil. Although it owns substantial coal, metal, and oil assets, the majority of its revenue stems from commodity trading—$219 billion in 2018. Glencore is particularly active in aluminum, copper, zinc, and other materials. III. Trafigura 2018 Revenue: $180.7 billion CEO & President: Jeremy Weir Founded: 1993 by Claude Dauphin, Eric de Turkheim, and Graham Sharp—spun off from Marc Rich’s corporate group Headquarters: Singapore; Geneva Listing Status: Privately held Number of Employees: 4,300 Key Traded Commodities: Primarily energy-focused, Trafigura also engages in non-ferrous metal trading and shipping operations. IV. Mercuria Energy Group 2018 Revenue: $122 billion CEO & President: Marco Dunand Founded: 2004 by former Phibro executives Marco Dunand and Daniel Jaeggi Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland Listing Status: Privately held Number of Employees: 1,000 Key Traded Commodities: Mercuria specializes in energy trading—including crude oil and petroleum products such as fuel oil, middle distillates, naphtha, and gasoline—as well as electricity, natural gas, coal, and biodiesel.

Unveiling the World’s Top Five Secretive Oil Giants—Do You Know Them All?

In 2017, Glencore ranked No. 14 on the Fortune Global 500 list, selling 1.2 billion barrels of crude oil and 853 million barrels of refined oil products. ◆◆◆ No. 2 Vitol Group 2017 Fiscal Year Revenue: $181 billion Vitol Group was founded in the Netherlands in 1966 and is now headquartered in Switzerland. Its core businesses include energy trading and logistics, along with upstream oil & gas exploration and downstream refining. Like Glencore, Vitol is shrouded in mystery. Daniel Yergin, a renowned energy expert in the oil industry, once remarked about Vitol: “Although I know the name Vitol, I must admit I know very little about them.” This aura of secrecy largely stems from Vitol being a privately held company—not required to disclose detailed financial data like publicly listed firms. Thus, despite generating $181 billion in annual revenue, Vitol does not appear on the Fortune Global 500 list. However, based on its 2017 revenue alone, it would rank approximately No. 18 on that list. At its peak in 2012, Vitol’s annual revenue soared to $303 billion—surpassing giants such as Sinopec and Chevron. Although Vitol’s 2017 revenue fell short of Glencore’s, it remains undisputedly the world’s top oil trader by volume: in 2017, it traded 2.5 billion barrels of crude oil and refined products, transporting 349 million tons of oil and oil products annually. ◆◆◆ No. 3 Trafigura Group 2017 Fiscal Year Revenue: $136.4 billion Trafigura Group is a Singapore-based company whose core activities span energy and metals & minerals trading and logistics warehousing, with rapidly expanding LNG operations. Currently, nearly 69% of its revenue originates from the petroleum sector. Founded in 1993 by six former Glencore traders—including Claude Dauphin and Eric de Turckheim—Trafigura now operates 62 offices across 35 countries. Trafigura also conducts business in China, maintaining an office in Shanghai. Following the March 2018 launch of China’s crude oil futures market, Trafigura was among the first overseas companies to participate in open outcry trading and successfully execute transactions. With $136.4 billion in revenue in 2017—comparable to the annual revenue of Chevron, the second-largest U.S. oil company—Trafigura’s scale and influence are truly formidable. In 2017, its petroleum and refined product trading volume reached 256 million tons. ◆◆◆ No. 4 Mercuria Energy Group 2017 Fiscal Year Revenue: $104 billion Mercuria is a Swiss trading firm dealing in crude oil and its derivatives, LNG, coal, biodiesel, and base metals. Additionally, Mercuria holds upstream oil & gas assets in the United States, Canada, Argentina, Nigeria, and other regions. Founded in 2004, Mercuria grew from a 10-person startup into the world’s fourth-largest crude oil trader in less than a decade—under the leadership of founders Marco Dunand and Daniel Jaeggi.

Trafigura Launches Volare Tanker Arm, Plans Oslo Listing

11 hours ago

Trafigura launched Volare Shipping, a new tanker arm with 14 supertankers, planning an Oslo listing on October 5 after raising $500 million. The expansion addresses record-high oil freight rates caused by geopolitical conflicts in Iran and Ukraine.

reuters

2026-09-20

Trafigura Launches Volare Tanker Arm, Plans Oslo Listing

Trafigura Launches Volare Tanker Arm, Plans Oslo Listing

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