U.S. "oil trade king", BP's Porteous, to retire

One of the world's most powerful and best-paid oil traders, BP's head of crude Donald Porteous, will retire from the company in 2016 after what industry sources described as several years of bumper profits.

Porteous, in his early 40s, is dubbed in the industry as "The King of Cushing", the United States' main oil trading hub, where BP controls large storage facilities, pipelines and a refinery, giving it a big logistical advantage over competitors.

BP has one of the biggest oil trading desks in the world and Porteous has made hundreds of millions of dollars for the company in recent years, according to industry sources.

His own annual remuneration was often higher than that of BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley, who made $12.7 million last year, the sources said.

BP is not obliged to disclose how much it pays its traders because they are not deemed to be executives. BP declined to comment on Porteous' retirement and pay. Porteous could not be reached for comment.

"Oil trading is a very competitive industry and as with most traders you have to reward performance," a source familiar with the situation said.

The source said Porteous was retiring for personal reasons.

BP employs 1,800 people in oil trading, which has been one of its highest-paying divisions for decades.

The trading desk was the alma mater for Glencore (GLCNF)'s head of oil Alex Beard, who became a billionaire after that company's initial public offering in 2011. Oil trader Gunvor's current owner Torbjorn Tornqvist also started his career at BP.

BP Chief Financial Officer Brian Gilvary was head of trading at the company between 2005 and 2010.

The last time BP disclosed figures for trading, in 2005, it earned $2.97 billion, or over a tenth of the firm's net profit.

As oil market volatility picked up in recent quarters, BP reported "stronger" contributions from trading, helping partially to offset much lower earnings from oil production as energy prices tanked.

Gilvary has said BP's trading performance during some quarters recently was as strong as in early 2009, when traders saw record profits.

BP's U.S. trading desk has traditionally been one of the strongest contributors to profits but also a source of controversy.

In 2007, BP paid $303 million in fines to settle criminal and civil cases related to manipulation of the U.S. propane market. It also had an independent monitor sitting on its trading desk for several years.

This year, U.S. investigators are probing whether BP broke anti-fraud and reporting rules on using oil pipelines that deliver Canadian oil to the United States. The oil giant said it submitted a detailed defence to U.S. regulators in mid-December.

Early retirement isn't necessarily the norm for the most successful traders, many of whom carry on long past the point at which they could bow out including such famous names as Andy Hall, a 64-year-old former Citigroup trader.

Porteous' predecessors, Nick Wildgoose and James Dyer, also left BP at a relatively young age. They emerged later at oil trader Arcadia.

In 2011, Wildgoose and Dyer were accused by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission of manipulating U.S. crude prices and settled for $13 million last year without admitting or denying wrongdoing. The focal point of that probe was oil trading around Cushing, Oklahoma.

By Dmitry Zhdannikov