World’s top energy trader Vitol eyes metals as oil demand set to peak

With global petroleum demand expected to peak within a decade, the world’s top energy trader, Vitol, is eyeing the metals market, according to CEO Russell Hardy.

“The petroleum, the oil business, we still think it will reach a peak at some point, about 10 years from where we are today,” Hardy said on Thursday at the Financial Times Commodities Summit in Singapore.

“We quite like the idea of being involved in the bigger metal markets. And the three bigger metal markets are steel and iron ore, copper, and aluminum,” he added.

Vitol has been recruiting senior metals traders from competitors, including Trafigura, Mercuria, and Glencore. The trader reported a bumper profit last year of $13.2 billion.

As the crude industry declines, Hardy sees significant growth potential for the metals business amid the electrification phase.

In August, Vitol announced its acquisition of Noble Resources, a Hong Kong-based trader specializing in oil, coal, and metallurgical coke.

Other trading houses, such as Gunvor and Mercuria, have also been expanding their metals teams to tap into the energy transition. As reported by the Financial Times, French oil major TotalEnergies is also considering entering copper trading.

“There is a bit of a yin and yang with the movement and growth within the petroleum sector and the anticipated growth in the metals sector,” Hardy noted.

“Metals is an area that is set to experience significant growth through the electrification phase” of the energy transition.

However, Hardy acknowledged that scaling a metals business to the same size as Vitol’s energy division would be a long and challenging process, as the metals market is highly competitive. The trading house will need to find its “edge” and “pathway.”

“It’s a 10-year ambition, and I’m not going to put any pressure on ourselves to be at a particular place in three or five years,” he said.