Gunvor books record trading profits on steep oil contango

London (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) – Swiss trading house Gunvor recorded its highest-ever trading profits in 2020 at $320 million after taxes, as traders took advantage of an initial contango structure in oil and then tighter fundamentals later in the year, the company said Wednesday.

A total of 191 million mt (2.7 million boe) were traded, generating a revenue of $50 billion, with "strong performances across all desks" and the company's "core profit drivers" natural gas and LNG performing well independent of market structure, said the statement.

Refining margins remained negative, however, and the $320 million profit included impairments of $340 million related to its refining assets, with its Antwerp refinery mothballed and two crude distillation units at its Rotterdam refinery shut down.

This reduced the company's total refining capacity from 300,000 b/d to 100,000 b/d.

The Antwerp refinery was purchased alongside a site in Ingolstadt from the now-defunct European refiner Petroplus in 2012 and its Rotterdam unit was bought from Kuwait Petroleum Europoort in 2016.