Sources say Vitol will post a net profit of $8.0-8.5 billion in 2024.

Two industry sources said that the world's largest energy trader Vitol, despite lower volatility in 2024, made a profit between $8.0 and $8.5 billion. This was a huge margin over its rivals for the third consecutive year.

The energy traders made record profits between 2022-2023, as the market recovered from the pandemic of coronavirus and faced gas shortages unprecedented in history following Russia's invasion.

Vitol has declined to comment.

Vitol has made $45 billion over the past five years, a figure that was previously unimaginable to oil traders.

Vitol, the largest and most successful trader in the world for more than a decade, made annual profits between $1 billion to $2 billion before the pandemic.

The company is owned and controlled by its hundreds of employees. Many of these are traders who are rewarded according to their performance.

The company paid out a record $6.5 billion dividend to its employee-shareholders on its results for 2023.

Trafigura, Vitol’s rival, made a $2.8 billion profit in 2024. This follows $7.3 billion and $6.8 in 2023.

By comparison, the oil giant BP reported a profit of $1.2 billion, down from $15.9 billion in 2013. Shell, BP's larger rival, reported a net loss of 16.52 billion dollars in 2024. This is down from 19.6 billion dollars in 2023. (Reporting and editing by Tomaszjanowski, Dmitry Zhdannikov, Julia Payne)

(source: Reuters)