Financial highlights
• Revenues of $270bn (2013:$307bn)*
• Total traded volumes of crude and oil products of 268mt (2013: 276mt)
• 6,053 ship journeys (2013: 6,065)
• Natural gas contracted sales of 1,202 TWh (2013: 1,297TWh)
• Power contracted sales of 117TWh (2013: 94TWh)
• Coal contracted sales of 34mt (2013: 51mt)
Business highlights
• Acquisition of Shell’s Australian downstream business and launch of Viva Australia
• Commencement of transformational oil and gas project for Ghana, working with ENI and GNPC
• Successful NYSE listing of VTTI Energy Partners MLP, part of VTTI
• Investment in Varo Energy, the European refining and distribution business
Ian Taylor, President & CEO said:
“As the largest independent trader of energy, the rapid slide in the price of crude in the last quarter of 2014 impacted our headline revenue figure which has fallen to $270 billion. For a brief time the market structure presented some interesting opportunities for a physical trader, notwithstanding the additional challenges of hedging physical cargoes in a highly volatile market.
“We are focused on continuing to evolve our downstream portfolio. The acquisition of Shell’s Australian downstream business and Geelong refinery, in which a further $115 million is being invested, gave us a significant footprint in Asia-Pacific. In Europe, we continue to invest in Varo Energy, the refining and distribution business which we own jointly with The Carlyle Group, and which has over $50 million of investment scheduled for 2015. Vivo Energy, which is the Shell licensee in 16 countries across Africa and in which we have a 40% shareholding, continues to grow with over 100 service stations opened in 2014.
“For VTTI, the terminals business we established in 2006 and grew further with our partners MISC of Malaysia from 2010, 2014 marked the next stage of its development with the NYSE listing of VTTI Energy Partners MLP, where it joins the other MLP in the Group, Blueknight Energy Partners.
“With our proven expertise in building and managing energy infrastructure and our position at the heart of physical energy flows around the world, we are exploring further opportunities to develop energy infrastructure in a number of growing economies. In Ghana, where we have been working with our Ghanaian partners for over twenty-five years, we are delighted to be deploying our expertise on a transformational oil and gas project for the country, alongside ENI and GNPC.
“Looking ahead, despite an improvement in near-term product demand, questions remain on both the demand and supply sides. The economic outlook appears to be improving and should receive a further boost from cheaper energy prices. However, geo-political risks continue to cast a shadow over both production and demand in many regions and other factors, such as where the marginal cost of US shale oil production really lies, are critical to understanding future supply.
“2014 was a demanding year for the Group and I would like to thank our clients and partners for continuing to collaborate and work with us.”
For More Information
Andrea Schlaepfer, Vitol
+44 207 973 4230
Fabian Gmuender, Vitol
+44 20 7312 4478
Notes to editors
*Average oil price of $98.95 in 2014 vs $108.65 in 2013 (dated Brent)
About Vitol
The Vitol Group was founded in 1966 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Since then the company has grown significantly to become a major participant in world commodity markets and is now the world’s largest independent energy trader. Its trading portfolio includes crude oil, oil products, LPG, LNG, natural gas, coal, electricity, agricultural products, metals and carbon emissions. Vitol trades with all the major national oil companies, the integrated oil majors and the independent refiners and traders. Globally Vitol trades over 5 million barrels of crude oil and oil products per day and revenues in 2014 were $270 billion.
For more information: www.vitol.com