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CEO of commodity trader Trafigura begins handover to successor

Jeremy Weir, longtime chief executive at commodities trader Trafigura, is priming successor Richard Holtum to take control of when he decides to step back into a chairman role, five sources knowledgeable about the matter said.

Trafigura has yet to announce an official transition or a. timeline for the change however management reshuffles and the. retirements announced recently of 2 executives have paved the. way for a brand-new generation of leadership.

Holtum, the business's international head of gas, power and. renewables, has actually signed up with Weir in meetings with top customers and. banks in current weeks, sources stated, a first step in preparing. him for the top task. One of the sources stated the transition. might happen as soon as this year.

A representative for Trafigura declined to comment.

A former British military guy, Holtum has had a meteoric. rise at the company. After signing up with the trader's melted natural. gas (LNG) group in 2014 from Glencore, he was promoted to the. lead the brand-new division of gas and power in 2019.

Trafigura combined department leadership in 2015 and. Holtum added renewables to his portfolio.

Renewable resource is the future. Holtum will step up when. Weir decides he wants a quieter life, one of the sources stated.

All of the sources requested anonymity since they were not. authorised to speak publicly on the matter.

RECORD REVENUES

In addition to oil, Holtum's division helped to provide record. profits for the company over the last two years during Europe's. energy crisis and extreme market dislocations created by Western. sanctions on Russia.

Trading firms state they likewise see future development in power. markets as the world moves towards increased electrification. and higher usage of renewable resource sources. Gas is. considered a bridge nonrenewable fuel source due to its lower emissions. compared to coal.

Trading houses had bumper profits in 2022 and 2023 after. Russia's pipeline gas exports shrank to a tiny portion of their. previous volume and gas prices struck record highs in Europe.

Trafigura made $7.4 billion in net profit last year and its. group equity has more than doubled since 2020. After Vitol, it. is the world's second greatest oil and LNG trader and its copper. book rivals that of mining giant Glencore.

The firm is attempting to move past some bribery scandals that. have also dogged its competitors Vitol, Glencore and Gunvor, and. precipitated management modifications at the 4 companies in current. years.

Trafigura resolved a bribery examination into its oil. transactions in Brazil with the U.S. Department of Justice last. month and will pay a fine of about $127 million.

The business still requires to fix charges around its. Angolan service. Switzerland's attorney general of the United States submitted an. indictment against Trafigura in 2015 for stopping working to prevent. alleged illegal payments by means of a 3rd party to a previous staff member. of Angola's state oil company Sonangol in between 2009-2011 and its. former chief operating officer Mike Wainwright has actually been charged. with bribery.

Trafigura stated it would defend itself in court which. Wainwright declined the charges and would also safeguard himself.

A spokesperson for Trafigura rejected any connection in between. the recent retirements of its veteran oil head Jose Larocca and. CFO Christope Salmon and any legal concern, consisting of the former. parent business's current resolution with the DOJ..

(source: Reuters)