Finance
Glencore promotes head of LNG to lead oil and gas trading, memo shows
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on September 30, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on September 30, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Glencore promotes Maxim Kolupaev to lead its oil and gas trading division, succeeding Alex Sanna in 2025. The company aims to boost trading volumes amid a competitive market.
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
LONDON (Reuters) -Glencore has promoted its top gas and power trader Maxim Kolupaev to lead the firm's entire oil and gas trading division when current head Alex Sanna steps down at the end of 2025, according to a Glencore memo to staff seen by Reuters.
Gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) trading often generate as much profit for trading houses as their traditional oil and fuel businesses as global LNG production grows and Europe replaces Russian gas with U.S. LNG.
Kolupaev will lead the division in its next phase of growth, Glencore Chief Executive Gary Nagle said in the memo.
Glencore is one of the biggest oil and gas trading houses in the world alongside Vitol, Trafigura, Mercuria and Gunvor.
It increased its traded volumes to 3.7 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude, fuel and gas in 2024 from 3.3 million bpd in 2023.
Volumes were still below the 4.8 million bpd Glencore marketed in 2019 and it trails rival Trafigura with 6.8 million bpd and Vitol, the world's largest trading house, with 7.2 million bpd.
Glencore's earnings for energy products and steelmaking coal marketing were $908 million in 2024, a 47% decrease on the year. By comparison Vitol posted over $8 billion in net profit in 2024, down from $13 billion in 2023.
Kolupaev has been with Glencore for 22 years, starting in the United Kingdom before becoming the global head of oil and more recently the head of LNG, gas and power.
Sanna steps down after 19 years with Glencore. He has been the head of trading for the past 6 years.
(Reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov; editing by Jan Harvey and Jason Neely)
LNG stands for liquefied natural gas, which is natural gas that has been cooled to a liquid state for easier storage and transport.
Trading volume refers to the total amount of shares or contracts traded for a specific security or market during a given period.
Energy products include various forms of energy sources such as oil, gas, and electricity that are traded in financial markets.
A trading house is a company that engages in the buying and selling of commodities, goods, or financial instruments.
Comparative performance refers to evaluating a company's performance against its competitors or industry benchmarks.
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