Glencore Sees Record Oil Trading Volumes as Margins Shrink
Glencore looks set to cement its position as the world's second-largest oil trader as it tries to offset low volatility and tight margins with record volumes this year, its global head of oil, Alex Beard, told Reuters. The London-listed commodities trader and miner will shift around 6 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude and refined product this year, up 25 percent from last year. The figure represents around 6 percent of global supply and only rival Vitol trades more oil, at some 7 million bpd. Most merchants are being forced to ramp up volumes to protect profits in an environment of low volatility. "We don’t set targets in terms of volumes," Beard told the annual Reuters Global Commodities Summit.
Oil Storage at Sea Stalls as Profit Play Fades
Traders are cutting plans to use tankers to store oil at sea as the price incentive recedes, the global head of oil at mining and commodities group Glencore's said on Tuesday. In January, the price of spot oil was around 50 percent lower than a peak hit in June, enabling traders to potentially make money by storing crude for delivery months down the line, when prices were expected to recover. Tanker industry sources estimated in late January that the volume of oil booked for floating storage had reached up to 50 million barrels. The economics of storage can only work if oil prices for delivery in the future are at a large enough premium to those in the spot market - a market structure known in the industry as contango. A backwardation is when the opposite occurs.
