Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on January 28, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 27, 2026
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Gunvor's head of crude trading, Benoit Roulon, has left amid market shifts. The company faces challenges with reduced profits and oil demand.
LONDON (Reuters) - Commodity trading house Gunvor's global head of crude trading Benoit Roulon has left the company, four sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
It was not immediately clear why Roulon left Geneva-based Gunvor. A Gunvor spokesperson declined to comment. Roulon did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comment via LinkedIn message.
Roulon had been in the role since September 2022, according to his LinkedIn profile, prior to which he spent over 20 years working for French oil major TotalEnergies and subsidiaries in the U.S., Geneva, and Singapore.
The departure follows that of veteran North Sea crude trader Neil Hitchinson, who left the trading house in September last year.
Trading houses are grappling with lower profits after an end to the boom in oil prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine and recovery in demand after the COVID pandemic.
In November, Gunvor Chairman and Co-founder Torbjorn Tornqvist said there is little growth in oil demand, and that the industry had been over investing.
Gunvor's net profit nearly halved in 2023, according to its financial results released last April.
Bloomberg News reported Roulon's departure from Gunvor earlier on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Robert Harvey; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
Benoit Roulon was the global head of crude trading at Gunvor, having held the position since September 2022.
The reasons for Roulon's departure from Gunvor are not immediately clear, and both he and the company have declined to comment.
Gunvor is grappling with lower profits due to a decline in oil prices following the end of the boom after Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the recovery in demand post-COVID.
Gunvor's net profit nearly halved in 2023, according to financial results released in April.
Neil Hitchinson, a veteran North Sea crude trader, also left Gunvor in September of the previous year.
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