Oil Traders Made Billions in 2019 as Conflict Shook the Market
- Last year was ‘among the best years ever’ for energy trading
- Boom to help oil companies offset weakness elsewhere
Photographer: STR/AFP via Getty Images
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The world’s largest energy traders enjoyed one of their best ever years in 2019 as pipeline outages, dramatic changes in ship fuel regulations and Middle East conflicts shook up the global oil market.
The bonanza extended beyond the independent traders like Vitol Group and Trafigura Group Ltd. to the in-house units of oil giants Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Total SA and BP Plc, which made billions of dollars in profits.