Vitol plans expansion into new business

Oil trader Vitol will expand into natural gas, carbon emissions, ethanol and coal to operate across the changing landscape of the global energy mix, the company’s Chief Executive Ian Taylor said. He added, “All these parts of the energy market are linked and if you are going to be a good global energy trader then that is what you are going to have to do.” The Geneva-based Vitol plans to bid for Iraq’s oil and gas fields as a member of a consortium, and is also looking at upstream opportunities in West Africa. “These are world-class fields .hopefully the situation in Iraq will improve and the international oil companies will be able to get in to help develop these oilfields,” Taylor said. Iraq has offered some of its largest oil and gas fields in two bidding rounds so far for service contracts. Last year, Vitol negotiated with Anadarko and Dome Petroleum for a short-term oil service contract but Iraq eventually halted the initiative in favor of longer term deals. Vitol’s revenues for 2008 were up about 30% from the previous year at around US$191 billion, Taylor said. Pension funds and other institutional investors moved into commodities over the past five years and contributed to oil’s bull run, which was not particularly healthy for oil markets, Taylor said. (March 25, 2009)