Climate Changed
Commodity Traders Turn to LNG as Big Oil Profits Prove Elusive
Gunvor, Vitol and Trafigura are doing for natural gas what they did in the oil market in the 1970s.
An LNG tanker arrives at Tokyo Gas Co.'s terminal in Yokohama, Japan.
Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
With margins narrowing in the crude oil business, some of the world’s biggest commodity trading houses are helping to reshape the energy industry with a drive into liquefied natural gas.
Gunvor Group Ltd., Trafigura Group Pte. Ltd. and Vitol SA have moved a step beyond trading LNG, investing in ships and terminals handling the fuel. That’s accelerating the growth of the industry, moving more gas that traditionally has flowed through pipelines onto ocean-going tankers chilled to minus 162 degrees Celsius (minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit).