Energy · Profile from Energy Research Companion
Trafigura
A private, employee-owned commodity trader — Trafigura Group Pte Ltd, registered in Singapore with its main trading offices in Geneva, Houston and Singapore — that moves crude oil, refined products, LNG, power, and metals and minerals, and is the second-largest independent oil trader after Vitol. Founded in 1993 by Claude Dauphin and a group of former Marc Rich traders, it became the largest exporter of US crude after Washington lifted the export ban in December 2015 (reported), built a Corpus Christi terminal, earned record profits of ~$7.0bn and ~$7.4bn in its 2022 and 2023 financial years, and then saw ~$2.67bn in FY2025 (shared facts) before a record ~$4.1bn in the first half of FY2026 alone as the Gulf crisis widened spreads (company). Its history is also the industry's compliance casebook: the Probo Koala toxic-waste dumping in Abidjan (2006), a US guilty plea for bribing Petrobras officials (~$127m, March 2024), a $55m CFTC settlement (June 2024), a Swiss conviction for bribery in Angola (January 2025), and a nickel-cargo fraud against it that cost a ~$577m charge (2023) and that London's High Court found was devised by Prateek Gupta (January 2026). Its story is that physical trading's main risk is not price — it is what is in the cargo and who was paid to get it.
At a glance
- Founded
- 1993 by Claude Dauphin, Eric de Turckheim, Graham Sharp, Mark Crandall and others, ex-Marc Rich + Co (reported, verify full list)
- Headquarters
- Singapore (group holding company); principal trading offices Geneva, Houston, Singapore; ~13,000+ employees incl. industrial assets (company, verify)
- Ownership / structure
- Private; owned by ~1,000–1,400 senior employees (reported, verify); funded by syndicated revolving facilities, bonds, perpetual bonds and securitisation
- Leadership (2026)
- Richard Holtum (CEO since 1 Jan 2024; previously head of oil trading, verify); Jeremy Weir (CEO 2014–2023, then executive chairman, verify); Stephan Jansma (CFO)
- Segments
- Oil and petroleum products (crude, products, LNG, gas, power); Metals and minerals (copper, zinc, lead, nickel, aluminium, iron ore, coal, cobalt); industrial and logistics assets (Nyrstar, Impala Terminals, Puma Energy, Greenergy, Nala Renewables, Galena Asset Management, reported)
- Scale
- Revenue ~$318bn (FY2022, company, verify); net profit ~$7.0bn (FY2022), ~$7.4bn (FY2023), ~$2.8bn (FY2024), $2,666m (FY2025, year to 30 Sep 2025, company); underlying EBITDA above $8bn for four consecutive years to FY2025 (company); H1 FY2026 (Oct 2025–Mar 2026) net profit ~$4.1bn, underlying EBITDA ~$7.9bn, revenue ~$141.9bn, liquidity ~$19.4bn (company, Jun 2026)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Founding (1993); Probo Koala (2006); Puma Energy build-out and sell-down (2011–25); US crude exports and Corpus Christi (2016); Vostok Oil stake and Russia exit (2020–22); 2022 record profits and liquidity squeeze; nickel cargo fraud (2023); US bribery plea and CFTC settlement (2024); Swiss Angola conviction (2025)
9 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
1993
Founding
Founding
2006
Probo Koala Waste Dumping
Accident or disaster (toxic-waste dumping by a contractor) and the legal actions that followed
2011
Puma Energy Build Out and Sell Down
Acquisition and expansion, then divestment
2016
US Crude Exports and Corpus Christi
Strategy / infrastructure (export terminal) and offtake
2020
Vostok Oil Stake and Russia Exit
Acquisition (minority stake) and later sanctions-driven exit
2022
Record Profits and the Liquidity Squeeze
Financing (liquidity and bank lines) during a price shock; trading results
2023
Nickel Cargo Fraud
Fraud against the company (failure of physical verification) and litigation
2024
US Bribery Plea and CFTC Settlement
Regulatory or legal action (FCPA guilty plea; CFTC civil settlement)
2025
Swiss Angola Conviction
Regulatory or legal action (criminal conviction for failure to prevent bribery)