Physical oil trading is the plumbing of the energy system. Crude oil and refined products move from producers to refiners to end markets at well over 90 million barrels per day. A small group of large trading houses, oil majors, and national oil company trading arms coordinate a meaningful share of that flow, taking price risk, credit risk, and operational risk along the way.
These firms buy and sell cargoes on term and spot contracts, charter tankers, manage storage, finance inventories, and hedge exposures in paper markets. Some are independent merchants. Others sit inside integrated oil companies or national oil companies. What they have in common is scale, information, and balance sheets strong enough to support billions of dollars of working capital.
Independent merchants have no upstream reserves of their own. Their business model is pure trading, logistics, and risk management, financed through bank lines and, increasingly, private credit. Switzerland has become a central hub for this segment, with firms like Vitol, Trafigura, Glencore, Gunvor, and Mercuria collectively handling a large share of global oil flows.
Vitol is widely regarded as the largest independent oil trader in the world. Various industry sources and press reports indicate that Vitol has traded several million barrels per day of crude and products in recent years, and it has reported annual net profits in excess of 10 billion dollars during the volatile 2022 to 2023 period.
Vitol’s model combines:
For producers and refiners, Vitol can take large positions, prepay for cargoes, and structure offtake and supply deals that provide both liquidity and logistical support.
Trafigura is another top tier independent energy and commodities trader. Recent disclosures show that Trafigura’s traded oil and fuel volumes reached around 6.8 million barrels per day in its 2024 fiscal year, placing it among the largest physical movers of oil globally.
Trafigura’s oil business is built on:
Trafigura is often seen in prepayment deals, inventory financing, and strategic offtake arrangements in emerging markets.
Glencore is a diversified commodities group with a significant oil trading arm. In 2024, Glencore reported that its combined oil, oil products, and gas trading volumes rose to about 3.7 million barrels per day, up from 3.3 million barrels per day in 2023.
Its energy business benefits from:
Glencore is particularly relevant for producers that want a combined solution across oil, metals, and other raw materials.
Gunvor is a Swiss based trading house that has grown into a major energy trader with multi million barrel per day volumes and more than one hundred billion dollars in annual revenue.
The firm focuses on:
Leadership changes in 2025 have refocused Gunvor on governance and expansion outside legacy markets, but its core strength remains physical trading.
Mercuria is another Swiss based trading firm that has become one of the largest global energy traders. Public reporting suggests that Mercuria generated several billion dollars in net profit during the tight energy markets of 2022 and 2023, reflecting strong positioning in oil, refined products, and gas.
Mercuria’s edge lies in:
It is a natural counterparty for refiners, producers, and utilities that need a flexible physical and paper trading partner.
Unipec, the trading arm of China’s Sinopec, is one of the largest oil traders in the world by volume. It handles crude procurement for Asia’s biggest refiner and trades crude and products globally. Reports indicate that Unipec has recorded annual sales well above 1.7 trillion yuan and routinely buys or sells multiple millions of barrels per month in regional crude benchmarks.
Unipec’s position is built on:
For sellers into Asia, Unipec is a key buyer and often a price maker in regional grades.
Aramco Trading is the trading subsidiary of Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil producer. It markets crude, refined products, LPG, LNG, and other liquids. Past guidance has indicated that Aramco Trading aimed to raise its traded volumes to around 6 million barrels per day, reflecting its central role in marketing Saudi and third party barrels.
Aramco Trading offers:
For refiners and national buyers, Aramco Trading is a central anchor in term contracts and spot purchases.
Shell operates a large global trading business that covers crude oil, refined products, LNG, power, and environmental products. Its trading activities are a major contributor to group earnings and are supported by a network of hubs in London, Houston, Singapore, and other locations.
In oil, Shell Trading:
Shell acts as both a merchant and an optimizer, balancing its own portfolio with broader market flows.
BP has a long established trading operation that covers crude, products, LNG, and power. Trading has become a core profit center, with BP and its European peers capturing tens of billions of dollars in extra earnings during the volatility of recent years.
BP Trading & Shipping focuses on:
BP is often among the main counterparties in benchmark markets such as Brent, as well as in regional refined product hubs.
TotalEnergies Trading & Shipping runs global desks for crude, products, LNG, LPG, and other energy commodities, backed by trading hubs in Geneva, Singapore, Houston, and Dubai. It supplies TotalEnergies’ refining and marketing system and trades with external counterparties worldwide.
Its trading unit:
TotalEnergies Trading & Shipping is a key presence in Atlantic Basin crude and product markets and in European refining hubs.
The ten firms above are not the only serious oil traders in the world, but they set a large share of the tone for physical markets. Their behavior affects different parts of the chain:
For producers and refiners, dealing with these firms can secure offtake, diversify buyers, and support investment plans. For banks and private credit funds, they are often anchor counterparties in borrowing base facilities, prepayment structures, and receivables programs.
Working with top tier traders is not just about brand names. It is about aligning economics, risk, and documentation. A few points matter in practice:
Smaller producers and refiners often struggle not because buyers are absent, but because files are incomplete or structures are unclear. That is where transaction preparation and bankability work change outcomes.
Financely works with producers, traders, and refiners that need working capital, letters of credit, and borrowing base facilities anchored in real flows. We focus on financial modelling, risk mapping, and lender ready documentation so that banks and private credit funds can evaluate transactions on clear terms.
If you control physical oil or commodity flows and want to raise structured trade finance around them, you can submit your transaction brief and financials for a formal review.
Request Trade Finance SupportDisclaimer: This page is for general information only and does not constitute investment, legal, tax, or regulatory advice. References to specific companies are based on publicly available sources and do not represent any form of endorsement, recommendation, or commercial relationship. Physical oil trading involves significant market, credit, operational, legal, and sanctions risk. Financely is not a bank, oil trader, broker dealer, or investment adviser. Any advisory engagement is provided strictly on a best efforts basis through regulated counterparts where required and is subject to eligibility, KYC and AML checks, sanctions screening, and a formal engagement agreement.
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