Glencore oil trading volumes rose in 2024, results show

By Robert Harvey

LONDON (Reuters) - London-listed global commodity trader and miner Glencore traded more oil in 2024 than in the previous year, preliminary results showed on Wednesday, but its earnings from trading energy products fell.

Glencore traded 3.7 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil, oil products and gas products last year, compared with 3.3 million bpd in 2023.

Despite an increase for two consecutive years, Glencore's traded volumes are below the 4.8 million bpd it marketed in 2019, and fell every year between 2020-2022, reaching a low of 3 million bpd.

The drop coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, the disruption caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and increased scrutiny into Glencore's oil trading activities from authorities.

Current head of oil Alex Sanna took over in mid-2019, after the retirement of Alex Beard, who stands trial on bribery charges in London in 2027.

As Glencore's overall earnings fell, its adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) for energy products and steelmaking coal were $908 million in 2024, a 47% decrease on the year.

Glencore said the lower earnings were a return to more normal levels after extreme prices and volatility.

The 2023 EBIT for energy trade of $1.7 billion “was at some sort of unsustainable level, frankly, where normal cruising speed is," CFO Steve Kalmin said on an investor call.

Glencore expanded its oil portfolio in the last year with a joint takeover of Shell's 237,000 bpd capacity Singapore oil refinery with Chandra Asri, a crude supply agreement for the UK's 113,000 bpd Lindsey refinery, owned by Prax, and a $400 million debt deal with Tullow Oil signed in November 2023 to market Ghanaian and Gabonese crudes.

Rival trading house Trafigura's traded oil and fuel volumes hit 6.8 million bpd for its 2024 financial year, which runs from October to September, up from 6.3 million bpd in 2023. Vitol has yet to publish its results.

(Reporting by Robert Harvey. Editing by Jane Merriman and Barbara Lewis)