Oil Trader Vitol to Post 25% Profit Drop as Market Shifts

  • Income from asset sales fails to offset weaker trading
  • Vitol Chairman Taylor has said oil trading is ‘bloody tough’
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Vitol Group, the world’s biggest independent oil trader, suffered a 25 percent drop in annual profit as income from assets sales failed to offset weaker trading results.

Net income fell to $1.5 billion in 2017, from $2 billion the year before, according to a person familiar with Vitol’s results. The energy-trading environment has deteriorated as output curbs by OPEC and its allies upended the oil-price curve, making buy-and-store crude deals less profitable.